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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: shower · rash · stem · cell · kid · branch · face · scale

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. face — to confront
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. rash — hasty
  6. shower — rain
  7. branch — a division
  8. scale — in music
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. rash — a series
  11. cell — a phone
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. face — to point toward
  16. face — part of the head
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. scale — size or range
  19. stem — to come from
  20. shower — to wash
  21. kid — child
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. cell — in biology
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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