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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · snap · cold · net · fan · plane · rule · pitcher

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. net — in sport
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. cold — an illness
  6. net — after costs
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. net — for catching
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. plane — a tool
  12. shower — to wash
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. fan — to cool the air
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. rule — government
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. snap — to click
  23. rule — a law
  24. shower — rain

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