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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 · wound · club · perch · wind · chair · field · bowl

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — to go on
  3. club — for golf
  4. wound — an injury
  5. chair — a leader
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. last — finally
  8. field — a subject
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. wind — moving air
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. club — for dancing
  13. club — a group
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. wound — an injury
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. field — farmland
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. field — for sport
  20. wind — moving air
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. perch — the fish
  24. wind — to turn a key

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