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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: chair · fork · patient · bank · mine · bat · content · swing

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  5. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. bat — the animal
  3. content — happy
  4. bank — of a river
  5. bank — for money
  6. fork — in a road
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. content — the amount
  10. bank — for money
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. swing — music
  13. swing — to play on
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. swing — in golf
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. chair — a leader
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. mine — for digging

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