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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: cell · wind · stem · last · row · court · tear · game

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. row — to paddle
  7. tear — from crying
  8. court — of law
  9. cell — a phone
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. stem — to come from
  12. wind — moving air
  13. last — finally
  14. game — wild animals
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. tear — to rip
  17. row — a line
  18. last — to go on
  19. game — a match
  20. court — for sport
  21. wind — moving air
  22. last — final
  23. tear — from crying
  24. cell — in biology

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