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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: patient · temple · drill · cold · chair · clip · present · cue

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. When was this ________________ built?
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. cue — a hint
  3. clip — to cut
  4. present — a gift
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. drill — army training
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. temple — a place of worship
  9. cue — for pool
  10. cold — an illness
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. cold — not warm
  13. drill — a practice
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. present — the time now
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. clip — a video
  18. present — there
  19. temple — side of the head
  20. clip — for paper
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. drill — the tool
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cue — a signal

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