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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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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: wound · spring · patient · kid · fork · capital · lash · tear

  1. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lash — an eyelash
  2. spring — the season
  3. kid — child
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. capital — money
  10. spring — a coil
  11. kid — to tease
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. tear — to rip
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. wound — an injury
  18. fork — in a road
  19. capital — a city
  20. wound — an injury
  21. tear — from crying
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. tear — from crying
  24. spring — of water

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