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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: sharp · content · dip · hand · wax · patient · pit · spring

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. spring — of water
  3. wax — in the ear
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. spring — the season
  6. content — happy
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. sharp — clever
  9. hand — help
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. hand — in cards
  15. dip — to sink
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. content — the amount
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. pit — in a race
  22. spring — a coil
  23. wax — to grow
  24. pit — a hole

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