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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 120 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: rock · branch · root · bowl · cold · shower · tear · game

  1. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — a stone
  2. rock — music
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. root — the cause
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. bowl — a football final
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. cold — an illness
  10. tear — from crying
  11. root — of a plant
  12. root — of a word
  13. rock — to move gently
  14. shower — to wash
  15. tear — to rip
  16. game — wild animals
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. shower — rain
  19. cold — not warm
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. branch — a division
  22. game — a match
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. game — a kind of play

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