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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  4. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  12. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. safe — out of danger
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. spell — letters
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. clip — a video
  9. spell — a short time
  10. content — happy
  11. safe — a strongbox
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. degree — temperature
  14. spell — magic
  15. content — the amount
  16. clip — to cut
  17. degree — from a university
  18. chair — a leader
  19. degree — an amount
  20. clip — for paper
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. stem — to come from

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