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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 120 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: leaves · sharp · perch · pop · snap · drill · field · march

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  24. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. pop — to visit
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. drill — army training
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. field — for sport
  7. march — music
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. leaves — of a tree
  10. field — farmland
  11. field — a subject
  12. pop — soda
  13. sharp — clever
  14. drill — the tool
  15. march — the month
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. drill — a practice
  19. snap — to click
  20. pop — music
  21. march — the month
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. leaves — lets stay
  24. perch — the fish

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