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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: hand · last · chest · field · perch · court · wound · march

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. chest — of your body
  3. march — the month
  4. last — finally
  5. march — the month
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. field — farmland
  9. court — of a king
  10. court — of law
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. chest — a box
  13. field — for sport
  14. wound — an injury
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. wound — an injury
  17. perch — the fish
  18. hand — help
  19. hand — in cards
  20. chest — of your body
  21. last — to go on
  22. last — final
  23. field — a subject
  24. court — 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