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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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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: present · content · chair · patient · bat · tear

  1. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. present — there
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. chair — a leader
  6. content — the amount
  7. present — a gift
  8. content — happy
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — from crying
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. tear — to rip
  14. present — the time now
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. bat — the animal
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. chair — to sit on

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