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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: game · drill · lean · shower · court · club · content · net

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  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 — videos and posts
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. net — after costs
  4. game — a match
  5. net — for catching
  6. lean — to bend
  7. shower — rain
  8. content — happy
  9. drill — a practice
  10. club — for golf
  11. lean — thin
  12. court — of a king
  13. content — the amount
  14. club — for dancing
  15. net — in sport
  16. court — of law
  17. drill — the tool
  18. game — wild animals
  19. court — for sport
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. shower — to wash
  22. club — a group
  23. drill — army training
  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