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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: cell · hand · ball · clip · court · saw · game · patient

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. He works in a ________________ mill.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. clip — for paper
  3. game — wild animals
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. hand — in cards
  6. cell — a phone
  7. court — for sport
  8. court — of law
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. clip — to cut
  13. cell — in biology
  14. ball — a great time
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. game — a match
  18. court — of a king
  19. saw — the tool
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. hand — help
  22. clip — a video
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. saw — the tool

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