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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
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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: net · hide · game · court · land · object · shower · degree

  1. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  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. hide — to keep secret
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. land — ground
  4. court — of law
  5. net — for catching
  6. shower — to wash
  7. net — after costs
  8. land — a country
  9. object — a thing
  10. court — of a king
  11. game — a match
  12. degree — temperature
  13. degree — from a university
  14. degree — an amount
  15. net — in sport
  16. object — to protest
  17. land — to come down
  18. court — for sport
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. game — wild animals
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. object — an aim
  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