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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: file · patient · bat · drill · clip · content · chest · rule

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. bat — the animal
  3. file — a document
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. chest — of your body
  6. clip — to cut
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. clip — for paper
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. file — a line of people
  12. drill — a practice
  13. chest — of your body
  14. rule — government
  15. drill — army training
  16. clip — a video
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. chest — a box
  20. drill — the tool
  21. file — a tool
  22. rule — a law
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. content — happy

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