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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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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: court · prune · patient · drill · wave · hand · tear · cell

  1. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. court — for sport
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. drill — army training
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. cell — a phone
  8. prune — to trim
  9. drill — a practice
  10. court — of law
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. tear — from crying
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. court — of a king
  15. wave — of the sea
  16. tear — to rip
  17. drill — the tool
  18. hand — in cards
  19. tear — from crying
  20. prune — to trim
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. cell — in biology
  24. hand — help

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