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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: fall · shower · ground · sharp · land · court · bulb · cell

  1. The light ________________ burned out.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. I've got to change the light ________________.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. court — for sport
  3. shower — rain
  4. fall — to drop
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. ground — a position
  7. court — of law
  8. land — to come down
  9. shower — to wash
  10. court — of a king
  11. land — a country
  12. ground — the earth
  13. sharp — clever
  14. ground — crushed
  15. fall — to drop
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. land — ground
  18. cell — in biology
  19. bulb — for light
  20. fall — the season
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. bulb — of a plant
  23. cell — a phone
  24. sharp — with an edge

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