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

Word bank: prune · shower · court · stem · cap · wave · swing · cell

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. prune — to trim
  3. cap — a lid
  4. stem — to come from
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. court — for sport
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. cap — of ice
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. shower — rain
  11. swing — in golf
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. shower — to wash
  14. court — of a king
  15. court — of law
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. prune — to trim
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. cap — a hat
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. cell — in biology
  22. swing — to play on
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. swing — music

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