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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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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: drill · coach · tear · hand · chest · perch · sharp · pitch

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. tear — from crying
  3. perch — the fish
  4. sharp — clever
  5. hand — help
  6. tear — to rip
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. drill — a practice
  10. pitch — completely
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. chest — a box
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. drill — army training
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. chest — of your body
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. drill — the tool
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. hand — in cards
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. tear — from crying
  24. chest — of your body

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