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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: shower · net · club · game · content · pitch · bark · trunk

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. content — happy
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. shower — to wash
  5. net — for catching
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. bark — to shout
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. shower — rain
  14. pitch — completely
  15. game — wild animals
  16. club — for dancing
  17. club — for golf
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. game — a match
  20. club — a group
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. net — in sport
  24. net — after costs

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