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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: field · perch · last · ball · file · clip · swing · branch

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. last — final
  3. last — finally
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. swing — music
  6. swing — in golf
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. last — to go on
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. file — a tool
  11. ball — a great time
  12. clip — a video
  13. field — for sport
  14. clip — to cut
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. field — farmland
  17. ball — a dance
  18. field — a subject
  19. file — a line of people
  20. perch — the fish
  21. swing — to play on
  22. file — a document
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. branch — a division

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