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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: spring · season · game · prune · straw · content · bulb · patient

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. content — happy
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. bulb — for light
  7. game — a match
  8. content — the amount
  9. game — wild animals
  10. spring — a coil
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. bulb — for light
  13. straw — a straw man
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. prune — to trim
  17. season — of the year
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. spring — of water
  20. spring — the season
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. season — in sport
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. patient — a sick person

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