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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: chair · file · chest · patient · stock · bat · face · wound

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. The ________________ market has crashed.
  13. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. chest — of your body
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. bat — the animal
  5. stock — goods
  6. face — to confront
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. file — a line of people
  9. chest — of your body
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. face — to point toward
  12. stock — shares
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. face — part of the head
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. wound — an injury
  17. chest — a box
  18. file — a document
  19. file — a tool
  20. chair — a leader
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. bat — in an idiom

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