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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: spring · arm · capital · degree · pitcher · current · bound · patient

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. degree — an amount
  4. spring — of water
  5. current — of water
  6. spring — a coil
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. arm — part of the body
  11. current — happening now
  12. degree — temperature
  13. capital — money
  14. current — electric
  15. bound — tied together
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. degree — from a university
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. bound — certain
  20. bound — obliged
  21. arm — a part of something
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. spring — the season

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