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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: bat · band · patient · hand · chair · pitcher · stand · capital

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  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. pitcher — a jug
  2. hand — in cards
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. band — a music group
  8. capital — a city
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. capital — money
  11. hand — help
  12. band — a ring
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bat — the animal
  16. stand — to bear
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. chair — a leader
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. patient — a sick person
  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