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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. court — for sport
  3. fall — to drop
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. fall — the season
  6. net — for catching
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. spring — of water
  9. fall — to drop
  10. court — of a king
  11. tube — a container
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. spring — a coil
  14. stem — to come from
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. net — after costs
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. spring — the season
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. court — of law
  24. net — in sport

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