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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: spell · wind · patient · chair · bat · root · tear · content

  1. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. wind — moving air
  3. spell — letters
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. tear — to rip
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. wind — moving air
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. tear — from crying
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. tear — from crying
  13. bat — the animal
  14. spell — magic
  15. content — happy
  16. spell — a short time
  17. root — the cause
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. root — of a word
  20. chair — a leader
  21. patient — calm and waiting
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. content — the amount
  24. root — of a plant

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