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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: shower · branch · rash · prune · last · mark · clip · wind

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. last — finally
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. prune — to trim
  5. clip — a video
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. mark — a trace
  8. rash — a series
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. branch — a division
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. shower — to wash
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. clip — to cut
  17. mark — a grade
  18. rash — hasty
  19. prune — to trim
  20. shower — rain
  21. last — to go on
  22. wind — moving air
  23. last — final
  24. wind — moving air

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