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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.

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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: kid · patient · drill · land · scale · content · chair · wound

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. chair — a leader
  3. drill — the tool
  4. land — ground
  5. scale — in music
  6. drill — army training
  7. land — to come down
  8. kid — to tease
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. kid — child
  11. drill — a practice
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. chair — a professorship
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. wound — an injury
  22. content — happy
  23. land — a country
  24. scale — size or range

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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