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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · clip · rush · cold · band · racket · patient · row

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. band — a music group
  5. clip — to cut
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. court — of a king
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. court — of law
  14. band — a ring
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — a video
  20. rush — hurry
  21. court — for sport
  22. row — to paddle
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. row — a line

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