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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: arm · prune · court · tube · wind · bear · shower · land

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. My father caught me by the ________________.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. I'll be taking the ________________.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. bear — the animal
  3. court — of law
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. prune — to trim
  6. wind — moving air
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. land — to come down
  9. court — of a king
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. bear — the animal
  13. tube — a container
  14. court — for sport
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — rain
  17. land — ground
  18. prune — to trim
  19. land — a country
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. wind — moving air
  23. tube — the underground
  24. arm — part of the body

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