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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 · date · rest · fall · cell · roll · net · cap

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. rest — a break
  3. net — after costs
  4. cap — a hat
  5. cell — in biology
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. fall — to drop
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. shower — rain
  10. cell — a phone
  11. fall — the season
  12. roll — a list
  13. shower — to wash
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. cap — of ice
  16. fall — to drop
  17. rest — what's left
  18. roll — a cake
  19. net — for catching
  20. rest — what's left
  21. date — the fruit
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. net — in sport

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