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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: land · last · court · net · shower · roll · charge · date

  1. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. We're on a ________________ here.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. net — for catching
  3. court — for sport
  4. charge — electricity
  5. last — finally
  6. roll — on a roll
  7. last — final
  8. last — to go on
  9. date — the fruit
  10. roll — a cake
  11. land — a country
  12. court — of a king
  13. court — of law
  14. charge — in control
  15. shower — to wash
  16. land — ground
  17. roll — a list
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. shower — rain
  20. net — in sport
  21. net — after costs
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. land — to come down

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