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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. net — for catching
  3. net — after costs
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. rash — a series
  6. net — in sport
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. pop — music
  9. spring — the season
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. ball — a dance
  12. ball — a great time
  13. pop — to visit
  14. rash — hasty
  15. shower — rain
  16. shower — to wash
  17. spring — of water
  18. spring — a coil

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