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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.

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: bat · patient · chair · clip · capital · season · lean · wound

  1. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to rest against
  2. wound — an injury
  3. capital — a city
  4. clip — to cut
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. wound — an injury
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. season — of the year
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. bat — the animal
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. capital — money
  15. lean — thin
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. clip — for paper
  18. lean — to bend
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. clip — a video
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. chair — a leader
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. season — in sport

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