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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.

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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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. snap — to click
  3. shower — rain
  4. court — of a king
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. stem — to come from
  8. court — for sport
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. dip — to sink
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. court — of law
  16. kid — to tease
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. shower — to wash
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. kid — child
  24. patient — a sick person

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