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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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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: last · chest · tear · swing · perch · race · field · ground

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. field — for sport
  4. tear — from crying
  5. swing — music
  6. perch — the fish
  7. ground — a position
  8. swing — in golf
  9. ground — the earth
  10. tear — from crying
  11. chest — of your body
  12. race — humankind
  13. swing — to play on
  14. chest — a box
  15. last — final
  16. ground — crushed
  17. last — finally
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. field — a subject
  20. race — the arms race
  21. field — farmland
  22. race — a contest
  23. tear — to rip
  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