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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: pound · wound · net · stand · court · fall · shower · clip

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. stand — on your feet
  3. net — after costs
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. clip — for paper
  6. fall — to drop
  7. fall — the season
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. court — of law
  12. stand — to bear
  13. court — of a king
  14. clip — to cut
  15. wound — an injury
  16. court — for sport
  17. net — in sport
  18. net — for catching
  19. clip — a video
  20. shower — rain
  21. fall — to drop
  22. pound — a weight
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. wound — an injury

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