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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: prune · rest · game · stem · last · row · shower · bear

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  4. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. bear — to put up with
  4. rest — what's left
  5. rest — a break
  6. game — a match
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. game — wild animals
  9. prune — to trim
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. stem — to come from
  12. rest — what's left
  13. last — final
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. row — to paddle
  16. last — to go on
  17. last — finally
  18. bear — the animal
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. shower — to wash
  21. bear — the animal
  22. row — a line
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. shower — rain

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