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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 · current · content · bark · net · wind · present · kid

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. current — electric
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. present — the time now
  6. present — a gift
  7. net — after costs
  8. wind — moving air
  9. content — happy
  10. net — for catching
  11. bark — to shout
  12. kid — child
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. net — in sport
  15. current — happening now
  16. present — there
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. content — the amount
  19. shower — rain
  20. shower — to wash
  21. current — of water
  22. kid — to tease
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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