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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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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 · racket · net · season · cold · face · race · wind

  1. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. cold — an illness
  3. season — of the year
  4. wind — moving air
  5. shower — rain
  6. face — to point toward
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. race — humankind
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. race — the arms race
  13. season — in sport
  14. race — a contest
  15. cold — not warm
  16. face — part of the head
  17. wind — moving air
  18. face — to confront
  19. net — after costs
  20. net — in sport
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. shower — to wash
  23. net — for catching
  24. cold — the Cold War

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