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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: cabinet · date · patient · spring · tear · hand · scale · dip

  1. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. date — on the calendar
  2. hand — help
  3. scale — size or range
  4. date — the fruit
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. spring — of water
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. spring — the season
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. spring — a coil
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. scale — in music
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. tear — to rip
  17. tear — from crying
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. dip — to sink
  23. hand — in cards
  24. tear — from crying

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