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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. season — in sport
  3. hand — help
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. perch — the fish
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. field — for sport
  8. swing — music
  9. file — a tool
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. swing — to play on
  13. hand — in cards
  14. swing — in golf
  15. file — a line of people
  16. file — a document
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. season — of the year
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. field — farmland
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. kick — in football
  24. field — a subject

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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