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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 116 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: content · chair · bat · patient · wax · race · row · dip

  1. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. race — humankind
  5. chair — a leader
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. race — a contest
  10. row — a line
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. race — the arms race
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. dip — to sink
  16. content — the amount
  17. content — happy
  18. bat — the animal
  19. wax — to grow
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. row — to paddle
  24. patient — a sick person

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