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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 116 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: content · branch · bulb · squash · tear · shower · wound · land

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The light ________________ burned out.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. content — happy
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. shower — to wash
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. land — ground
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. wound — an injury
  9. bulb — for light
  10. land — a country
  11. squash — to crush
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. land — to come down
  14. branch — a division
  15. squash — the sport
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. bulb — for light
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — to rip
  20. wound — an injury
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. shower — rain
  24. tear — from crying

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