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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: patient · cold · tear · stem · date · club · prune · wound

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Have you settled on a ________________?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. stem — to come from
  4. wound — an injury
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. tear — from crying
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. club — a group
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. cold — an illness
  14. wound — an injury
  15. tear — to rip
  16. prune — to trim
  17. tear — from crying
  18. prune — to trim
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. cold — not warm
  21. club — for dancing
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. date — the fruit

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