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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: chest · season · perch · clip · bat · drill · pound · swing

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Did you ________________ the meat?
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. bat — the animal
  5. perch — the fish
  6. drill — army training
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. clip — to cut
  9. season — in sport
  10. drill — the tool
  11. clip — a video
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. chest — a box
  14. drill — a practice
  15. swing — to play on
  16. chest — of your body
  17. clip — for paper
  18. swing — in golf
  19. swing — music
  20. pound — a weight
  21. season — to add flavour
  22. chest — of your body
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. bat — for baseball

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