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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: spring · ground · net · clip · shower · straw · board · game

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. spring — the season
  3. shower — to wash
  4. net — after costs
  5. net — for catching
  6. net — in sport
  7. ground — the earth
  8. ground — a position
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. shower — rain
  11. board — a flat piece
  12. spring — a coil
  13. game — wild animals
  14. board — to get on
  15. clip — for paper
  16. ground — crushed
  17. board — a committee
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. game — a match
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. clip — to cut
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. clip — a video
  24. spring — of water

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