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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: shower · mark · race · hand · content · hide · trunk · prune

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. prune — to trim
  3. hand — in cards
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. mark — a trace
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. content — the amount
  11. hand — help
  12. shower — to wash
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. race — the arms race
  15. prune — to trim
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. race — humankind
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. shower — rain
  22. race — a contest
  23. mark — a grade
  24. hide — to keep secret

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