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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
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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 · bore · chest · pitcher · chair · ground · clip · content

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. chair — a leader
  5. chest — a box
  6. clip — a video
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. content — the amount
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. chest — of your body
  12. ground — crushed
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. ground — a position
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. content — happy
  19. ground — the earth
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. bore — to drill
  23. chest — of your body
  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