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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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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: pass · pit · mouse · shower · kid · prune · branch · cold

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  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. pit — a fruit stone
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. shower — rain
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pit — in a race
  7. shower — to wash
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. branch — a division
  12. kid — to tease
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. prune — to trim
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. pit — a hole
  18. pass — a permit
  19. cold — not warm
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. kid — child
  22. prune — to trim
  23. cold — the Cold War
  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