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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: last · cell · trunk · net · cold · pitch · shower · land

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. net — after costs
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. last — finally
  6. cold — an illness
  7. shower — rain
  8. land — ground
  9. pitch — completely
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. net — in sport
  12. land — a country
  13. last — final
  14. shower — to wash
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cell — a phone
  19. land — to come down
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. last — to go on
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cell — in biology

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