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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. key — the most important part
  3. content — happy
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. file — a line of people
  6. spring — the season
  7. court — of a king
  8. spring — a coil
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. net — after costs
  11. file — a document
  12. content — the amount
  13. key — for a lock
  14. net — for catching
  15. spring — of water
  16. key — in music
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. court — for sport
  19. court — of law
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. net — in sport
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. file — a tool
  24. racket — for tennis

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