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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: trunk · patient · capital · spell · kick · tube · game · pound

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. game — wild animals
  3. game — a match
  4. tube — the underground
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. spell — magic
  7. spell — a short time
  8. kick — in football
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. spell — letters
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. pound — a weight
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. tube — a container
  18. pound — to hit hard
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. capital — money
  21. capital — a city
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. patient — a sick person

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