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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: shower · patient · fork · bay · roll · bore · stem · clip

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. We're on a ________________ here.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. My mare is ________________ in color.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. shower — to wash
  3. clip — for paper
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. roll — a cake
  9. roll — on a roll
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. bay — a horse colour
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. bore — to drill
  16. bore — to tire
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. roll — a list
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. shower — rain
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — to cut
  23. stem — to come from
  24. fork — in a road

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