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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.

Make a worksheet

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
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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: wind · chair · court · bass · season · patient · toast · clip

  1. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — a drink to someone
  2. wind — moving air
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. court — of law
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — a video
  9. court — for sport
  10. toast — the most admired
  11. chair — a leader
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. season — in sport
  14. court — of a king
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. wind — moving air
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. season — of the year
  21. bass — the fish
  22. clip — to cut
  23. bass — low music
  24. toast — bread

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