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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: bass · hand · court · content · cell · swing · tear · patient

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. hand — in cards
  3. court — of a king
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. court — for sport
  6. content — happy
  7. bass — low music
  8. tear — from crying
  9. bass — the fish
  10. cell — a phone
  11. swing — in golf
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. content — the amount
  15. swing — music
  16. court — of law
  17. cell — in biology
  18. hand — help
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. bass — the instrument
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. swing — to play on
  24. content — videos and posts

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