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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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Word bank
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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 · chest · spell · march · shower · content · root · rest

  1. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. spell — letters
  3. spell — a short time
  4. spell — magic
  5. march — the month
  6. rest — what's left
  7. march — music
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. root — of a plant
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. rest — what's left
  12. content — the amount
  13. chest — of your body
  14. shower — to wash
  15. shower — rain
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. chest — a box
  18. march — the month
  19. root — of a word
  20. content — happy
  21. rest — a break
  22. root — the cause
  23. chest — of your body
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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