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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 120 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: shower · racket · nail · bound · ground · band · prune · spring

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. ground — crushed
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. shower — rain
  5. spring — the season
  6. band — a ring
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. ground — a position
  11. bound — obliged
  12. spring — a coil
  13. bound — tied together
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. prune — to trim
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. ground — the earth
  19. bound — certain
  20. prune — to trim
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. spring — of water
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. shower — to wash

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