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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: saw · shower · cold · field · root · branch · row · bulb

  1. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. bulb — for light
  4. cold — not warm
  5. field — farmland
  6. shower — to wash
  7. shower — rain
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. cold — an illness
  10. saw — the tool
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. field — a subject
  13. row — a line
  14. root — the cause
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. field — for sport
  17. bulb — for light
  18. saw — the tool
  19. branch — a division
  20. bulb — of a plant
  21. row — to paddle
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. root — of a plant

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