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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.

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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: can · ground · fan · row · patient · chest · bat · chair

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. can — a tin
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. chest — a box
  5. can — a tin
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. chair — a leader
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. ground — crushed
  17. ground — the earth
  18. ground — a position
  19. row — to paddle
  20. row — a line
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. can — to be able to
  23. chest — of your body
  24. patient — a sick person

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