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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: kid · face · content · band · mate · chest · patient · chair

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. face — part of the head
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. content — the amount
  5. kid — child
  6. face — to confront
  7. chest — of your body
  8. kid — to tease
  9. mate — a partner
  10. chest — of your body
  11. band — a music group
  12. mate — to breed
  13. mate — a friend
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. face — to point toward
  18. chest — a box
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. content — happy
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. chair — a leader
  23. band — a ring
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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