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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: march · wound · club · shower · bark · bat · arm · stem

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. shower — rain
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. shower — to wash
  5. club — for dancing
  6. wound — an injury
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. wound — an injury
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. bark — to shout
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. stem — to come from
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. march — the month
  15. bat — the animal
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. club — a group
  19. march — music
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. march — the month
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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