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

Word bank: shower · kick · wound · court · net · leaves

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. wound — an injury
  3. court — of law
  4. leaves — lets stay
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. net — in sport
  7. shower — rain
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. wound — an injury
  10. net — after costs
  11. shower — to wash
  12. court — of a king
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. net — for catching
  15. leaves — of a tree
  16. kick — in football
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. leaves — to go away

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