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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 · content · trunk · fan · ball · wind · row · last

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  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. last — final
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wind — moving air
  4. row — a line
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. content — happy
  7. shower — rain
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. content — the amount
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. row — to paddle
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. last — to go on
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. last — finally
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. ball — a dance
  22. shower — to wash
  23. ball — a great time
  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