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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: row · mate · shower · prune · march · scale · wave · pop

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. mate — a partner
  3. prune — to trim
  4. pop — to visit
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. pop — music
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. march — the month
  10. wave — with your hand
  11. mate — a friend
  12. wave — of the sea
  13. scale — in music
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. row — to paddle
  16. mate — to breed
  17. shower — rain
  18. row — a line
  19. scale — size or range
  20. march — the month
  21. shower — to wash
  22. pop — soda
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. march — music

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