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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 124 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: stem · prune · wave · shower · bank · net · clip · cold

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  20. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  23. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cold — not warm
  3. shower — to wash
  4. clip — a video
  5. prune — to trim
  6. net — for catching
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. shower — rain
  9. net — in sport
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. net — after costs
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. prune — to trim
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. clip — to cut
  19. bank — for money
  20. bank — for money
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bank — of a river
  23. wave — with your hand
  24. stem — to come from

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