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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: cap · pop · patient · key · season · date · spring · content

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. spring — the season
  3. cap — a hat
  4. key — the most important part
  5. pop — soda
  6. season — in sport
  7. content — happy
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. key — for a lock
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. pop — music
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. date — the fruit
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. content — the amount
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. key — in music
  20. spring — of water
  21. season — of the year
  22. spring — a coil
  23. cap — a lid
  24. cap — of ice

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