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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: race · content · perch · march · field · row · hand · squash

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. march — the month
  3. squash — to crush
  4. field — for sport
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. row — to paddle
  7. row — a line
  8. field — a subject
  9. perch — the fish
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. squash — the sport
  12. hand — help
  13. content — the amount
  14. field — farmland
  15. content — happy
  16. march — music
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. race — a contest
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. race — the arms race
  22. hand — in cards
  23. march — the month
  24. hand — part of the 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