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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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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: perch · pit · band · field · tear · chair

  1. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. field — a subject
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. tear — from crying
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. tear — to rip
  7. tear — from crying
  8. perch — the fish
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. pit — in a race
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. band — a music group
  13. band — a ring
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. field — farmland
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. chair — a leader
  18. field — for sport

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