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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: bark · court · current · net · tube · rash · band · shower

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I'll be taking the ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  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. court — of a king
  2. current — electric
  3. band — a music group
  4. band — a ring
  5. rash — hasty
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. shower — to wash
  8. shower — rain
  9. tube — a container
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. tube — the underground
  13. bark — to shout
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. court — for sport
  16. court — of law
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. net — for catching
  19. current — happening now
  20. net — in sport
  21. rash — a series
  22. current — of water
  23. tube — in a tire
  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