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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.

Make a worksheet

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: land · scale · cold · content · clip · patient · coach · stem

  1. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. cold — not warm
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. scale — in music
  5. clip — to cut
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. land — a country
  9. content — the amount
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. content — happy
  12. clip — for paper
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. land — to come down
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. stem — to come from
  18. land — ground
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. cold — an illness
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. clip — a video

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