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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: stem · court · wake · saw · cell · game · net · prune

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. saw — the tool
  3. saw — the tool
  4. game — a match
  5. court — for sport
  6. wake — a trail
  7. court — of law
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. net — for catching
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. cell — in biology
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. cell — a phone
  16. net — in sport
  17. prune — to trim
  18. game — wild animals
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. court — of a king
  22. prune — to trim
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. stem — to come from

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