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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: land · fine · court · spring · patient · tube · tear · sharp

  1. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  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. tube — a container
  2. sharp — clever
  3. land — a country
  4. fine — high quality
  5. land — to come down
  6. fine — all right
  7. court — for sport
  8. land — ground
  9. court — of a king
  10. tube — in a tire
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. court — of law
  13. tear — from crying
  14. tube — the underground
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. spring — a coil
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. tear — to rip
  19. tear — from crying
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. spring — the season
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. fine — a penalty
  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