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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: shower · bass · leaves · lean · bat · tear · branch · band

  1. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — to go away
  2. shower — to wash
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bass — low music
  5. tear — from crying
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. bat — the animal
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. shower — rain
  12. band — a ring
  13. tear — from crying
  14. lean — to bend
  15. bass — the fish
  16. tear — to rip
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. band — a music group
  21. branch — a division
  22. lean — thin
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. branch — of a tree

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