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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: net · wound · calf · content · shower · pitch · wake · land

  1. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. calf — a young animal
  2. net — after costs
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. net — for catching
  5. land — a country
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. shower — rain
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. shower — to wash
  10. content — happy
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. wound — an injury
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. land — to come down
  15. content — the amount
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. wound — an injury
  20. land — ground
  21. net — in sport
  22. pitch — completely
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. wake — a trail

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