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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: net · shower · game · snap · arm · club · capital · kid

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. club — a group
  4. club — for golf
  5. game — wild animals
  6. net — in sport
  7. snap — to click
  8. shower — to wash
  9. net — for catching
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. kid — child
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. shower — rain
  17. net — after costs
  18. kid — to tease
  19. club — for dancing
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — money
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. game — a kind of play

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