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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 116 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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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: pit · ground · net · last · wind · stem · shower · kid

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. shower — rain
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wind — moving air
  6. last — to go on
  7. net — for catching
  8. pit — a hole
  9. last — final
  10. net — after costs
  11. wind — moving air
  12. kid — child
  13. ground — a position
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. pit — in a race
  16. stem — to come from
  17. ground — the earth
  18. last — finally
  19. kid — to tease
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. shower — to wash
  23. ground — crushed
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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