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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: season · lean · spring · squash · patient · bound · cold · pitcher

  1. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. That was ________________ to happen.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. squash — to crush
  5. lean — to rest against
  6. spring — the season
  7. bound — tied together
  8. spring — of water
  9. season — of the year
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. bound — certain
  13. lean — to bend
  14. cold — not warm
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. squash — the sport
  17. lean — thin
  18. cold — an illness
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. bound — obliged
  22. season — in sport
  23. spring — a coil
  24. cold — the Cold War

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