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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: wave · shower · prune · hand · tear · chest · branch · ground

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. shower — rain
  3. tear — from crying
  4. hand — in cards
  5. tear — from crying
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. chest — of your body
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. prune — to trim
  11. hand — help
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wave — of the sea
  14. ground — a position
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. ground — the earth
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. branch — a division
  19. prune — to trim
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. chest — a box
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. shower — to wash
  24. ground — crushed

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