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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: pass · mine · charge · patient · degree · capital · spring · trunk

  1. The tickets are free of ________________.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — a price
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. spring — the season
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. degree — temperature
  11. pass — a permit
  12. capital — a city
  13. spring — a coil
  14. degree — from a university
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. capital — money
  17. degree — an amount
  18. mine — for digging
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. spring — of water
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. charge — electricity
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. charge — in control

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