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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 116 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: shower · net · patient · row · spring · pitch · lean · season

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. season — of the year
  3. lean — to bend
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. row — a line
  6. net — in sport
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. spring — the season
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. spring — a coil
  14. pitch — completely
  15. shower — to wash
  16. shower — rain
  17. season — in sport
  18. net — for catching
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. lean — thin
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. spring — of water
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. row — to paddle

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