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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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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: wind · bat · mate · net · tear · rest · date · shower

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. wind — moving air
  3. mate — a partner
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. mate — to breed
  7. net — after costs
  8. rest — what's left
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. tear — to rip
  11. net — for catching
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. shower — to wash
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — from crying
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. rest — what's left
  19. bat — the animal
  20. shower — rain
  21. rest — a break
  22. date — the fruit
  23. wind — moving air
  24. mate — a friend

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