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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: court · net · patient · pit · kick · saw · bat · lean

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. court — of law
  3. net — after costs
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. net — in sport
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. lean — thin
  8. kick — in football
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. court — for sport
  12. lean — to bend
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. saw — the tool
  15. saw — the tool
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. pit — a hole
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. court — of a king
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. bat — the animal
  22. pit — in a race
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. net — for catching

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