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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: patient · snap · fork · prune · spring · bat · capital · coach

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. fork — in a road
  6. capital — money
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. spring — the season
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. snap — to click
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. spring — a coil
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. prune — to trim
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. prune — to trim
  21. bat — the animal
  22. capital — a city
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. fork — to eat with

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