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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: hand · snap · stock · field · trunk · court · patient · shower

  1. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  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. trunk — of a car
  2. court — of law
  3. hand — in cards
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. stock — goods
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. field — farmland
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. stock — shares
  13. field — for sport
  14. shower — to wash
  15. court — for sport
  16. snap — to click
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. shower — rain
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. court — of a king
  23. field — a subject
  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