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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 120 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 · net · bulb · prune · bore · ball · cold · row

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. ball — a great time
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. bore — to tire
  5. row — to paddle
  6. prune — to trim
  7. net — for catching
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. bulb — for light
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. bore — to drill
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. cold — not warm
  15. prune — to trim
  16. ball — a dance
  17. bulb — for light
  18. shower — rain
  19. net — in sport
  20. cold — an illness
  21. row — a line
  22. shower — to wash
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. prune — the fruit

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