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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 · spell · hand · pop · pit · pitcher · court · cabinet

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. court — of law
  4. pit — in a race
  5. spell — a short time
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. hand — in cards
  8. pit — a hole
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. court — of a king
  11. pop — to visit
  12. shower — to wash
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. spell — magic
  18. spell — letters
  19. court — for sport
  20. pop — music
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. pop — soda
  23. shower — rain
  24. hand — part of the body

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