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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: shower · racket · mine · spring · net · fall · fine · last

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. net — for catching
  3. fine — high quality
  4. mine — for digging
  5. net — after costs
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. spring — a coil
  8. fine — all right
  9. last — final
  10. fall — the season
  11. net — in sport
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. fall — to drop
  14. last — finally
  15. shower — rain
  16. spring — of water
  17. last — to go on
  18. spring — the season
  19. shower — to wash
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. fine — a penalty
  23. fall — to drop
  24. racket — for tennis

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