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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: patient · sharp · swing · spring · hand · bowl · land · pop

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. land — a country
  3. hand — in cards
  4. pop — soda
  5. swing — to play on
  6. swing — in golf
  7. swing — music
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. land — ground
  10. land — to come down
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. spring — the season
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. sharp — clever
  19. pop — to visit
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. spring — a coil
  23. spring — of water
  24. pop — music

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