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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: hand · net · wave · current · roll · kid · game · shower

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. current — of water
  3. net — for catching
  4. game — a match
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. kid — child
  7. current — electric
  8. shower — to wash
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. roll — a list
  14. kid — to tease
  15. shower — rain
  16. game — wild animals
  17. hand — help
  18. hand — in cards
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. current — happening now
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. net — in sport
  24. net — after costs

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