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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: land · shower · mine · bore · hand · plane · cap · net

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. net — in sport
  5. cap — a hat
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. land — ground
  8. land — to come down
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. hand — in cards
  11. plane — a tool
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. cap — of ice
  15. hand — help
  16. cap — a lid
  17. mine — for digging
  18. net — for catching
  19. shower — rain
  20. land — a country
  21. shower — to wash
  22. bore — to tire
  23. net — after costs
  24. bore — to drill

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