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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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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 · prune · wind · wave · club · pop · hide · row

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. club — for golf
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. club — for dancing
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. wind — moving air
  8. prune — to trim
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. shower — rain
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. pop — soda
  13. pop — music
  14. prune — to trim
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. row — a line
  19. row — to paddle
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. shower — to wash
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. pop — to visit

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