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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: wind · shower · tear · spring · prune · mouse · date · land

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  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. wind — moving air
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. mouse — the animal
  4. shower — rain
  5. tear — from crying
  6. shower — to wash
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. tear — to rip
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. land — a country
  11. prune — to trim
  12. spring — of water
  13. land — to come down
  14. tear — from crying
  15. spring — a coil
  16. spring — the season
  17. date — the fruit
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. land — ground
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. prune — to trim
  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