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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: mine · snap · pop · bear · shower · date · court · game

  1. Have you settled on a ________________?
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. shower — to wash
  3. court — of a king
  4. pop — music
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. snap — to click
  7. shower — rain
  8. bear — the animal
  9. game — wild animals
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. snap — to snap out of it
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. mine — for digging
  15. court — of law
  16. pop — to visit
  17. game — a match
  18. bear — the animal
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. date — the fruit
  21. pop — soda
  22. court — for sport
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. mine — an explosive

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