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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 116 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: cold · bat · mark · present · tear · chair · content · patient

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. mark — a grade
  3. chair — a professorship
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. present — the time now
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. content — happy
  9. bat — the animal
  10. mark — a trace
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. chair — a leader
  13. present — a gift
  14. present — there
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. content — the amount
  18. cold — not warm
  19. tear — from crying
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. tear — to rip
  22. mark — to pay attention
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. bat — for baseball

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