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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: tear · rash · prune · content · patient · fork · land · shower

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  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. content — the amount
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. rash — a series
  4. land — ground
  5. tear — from crying
  6. prune — to trim
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. tear — from crying
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. prune — to trim
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. tear — to rip
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. rash — hasty
  16. land — a country
  17. land — to come down
  18. content — happy
  19. shower — to wash
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. fork — in a road
  22. shower — rain
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  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