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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: pitcher · patient · bat · stem · hand · fine · tear · court

  1. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  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. fine — high quality
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. court — for sport
  4. fine — all right
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. hand — in cards
  8. tear — from crying
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bat — the animal
  14. court — of law
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. tear — to rip
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. court — of a king
  21. stem — to come from
  22. tear — from crying
  23. patient — a sick person
  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