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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: land · wake · chest · shower · season · rush · craft · net

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. You shouldn't ________________ things.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. land — ground
  3. season — in sport
  4. net — after costs
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. shower — to wash
  7. chest — of your body
  8. land — to come down
  9. chest — a box
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. craft — a skill
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. chest — of your body
  16. rush — hurry
  17. net — for catching
  18. shower — rain
  19. land — a country
  20. season — of the year
  21. wake — a trail
  22. net — in sport
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. rush — to hurry

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