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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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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 · bound · roll · hand · patient · capital · spring · rash

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. capital — money
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. spring — of water
  5. rash — hasty
  6. bound — obliged
  7. roll — a list
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. spring — the season
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. rash — a series
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. season — in sport
  14. roll — a cake
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. hand — in cards
  18. capital — a city
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. spring — a coil
  21. season — of the year
  22. bound — certain
  23. bound — tied together
  24. patient — a sick person

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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