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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 116 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 · shower · pitcher · bear · last · clip · board · mine

  1. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  15. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. last — final
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — a video
  5. last — finally
  6. net — in sport
  7. board — a committee
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. mine — for digging
  11. shower — rain
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. bear — the animal
  14. board — to get on
  15. board — a flat piece
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. shower — to wash
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. last — to go on
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. net — after costs
  23. net — for catching
  24. pitcher — a jug

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