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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: track · shower · chest · branch · prune · wound · band · tube

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. wound — an injury
  5. prune — to trim
  6. track — a path
  7. band — a ring
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. tube — the underground
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. prune — to trim
  12. chest — of your body
  13. branch — a division
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. tube — a container
  16. wound — an injury
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. shower — rain
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. chest — a box
  21. track — a song
  22. chest — of your body
  23. track — to keep track
  24. band — a music group

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