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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: sharp · dip · prune · shower · leaves · spring · cold · land

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. sharp — clever
  4. land — to come down
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. prune — to trim
  7. spring — a coil
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. spring — of water
  10. cold — not warm
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. cold — an illness
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. shower — to wash
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. shower — rain
  20. prune — to trim
  21. spring — the season
  22. dip — to sink
  23. land — ground
  24. cold — the Cold War

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com