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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: spring · shower · prune · scale · chest · rash · pitcher · lash

  1. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — for weighing
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. shower — rain
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. spring — a coil
  6. shower — to wash
  7. spring — the season
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. rash — a series
  15. scale — size or range
  16. spring — of water
  17. lash — a whip stroke
  18. prune — to trim
  19. prune — to trim
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. scale — in music
  22. chest — of your body
  23. rash — hasty
  24. rash — on the skin

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