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

Word bank: patient · bass · tear · cold · chair · stem

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. tear — from crying
  4. chair — a leader
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. cold — not warm
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. tear — from crying
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bass — low music
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. tear — to rip
  17. cold — an illness
  18. bass — the instrument

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