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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: drill · land · capital · prune · roll · shower · pass · wind

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. wind — moving air
  5. drill — army training
  6. prune — to trim
  7. shower — to wash
  8. land — a country
  9. roll — a list
  10. land — ground
  11. capital — money
  12. shower — rain
  13. pass — to spend time
  14. drill — a practice
  15. land — to come down
  16. pass — a permit
  17. wind — moving air
  18. capital — a city
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. roll — a cake
  23. drill — the tool
  24. prune — the fruit

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