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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 120 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 · capital · season · bore · tear · kid · dip · bass

  1. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. kid — to tease
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. bore — to drill
  7. kid — child
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. bass — the fish
  11. season — of the year
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. bore — to tire
  14. season — in sport
  15. dip — to sink
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — to rip
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. tear — from crying
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. capital — money
  24. capital — a city

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