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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 120 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: spring · ruler · net · prune · bark · pop · shower · drill

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  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. net — after costs
  2. bark — to shout
  3. pop — soda
  4. drill — army training
  5. ruler — a monarch
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. pop — to visit
  8. net — for catching
  9. shower — rain
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. spring — the season
  12. prune — to trim
  13. spring — of water
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. net — in sport
  17. pop — music
  18. spring — a coil
  19. prune — to trim
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. shower — to wash
  22. drill — the tool
  23. drill — a practice
  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