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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: vault · snap · perch · court · row · field · race · bore

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. snap — to click
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. bore — to tire
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. field — farmland
  7. court — of a king
  8. row — to paddle
  9. vault — in gymnastics
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. bore — to drill
  12. court — of law
  13. court — for sport
  14. race — humankind
  15. race — a contest
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. field — for sport
  18. row — a line
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. vault — a safe
  23. field — a subject
  24. race — the arms race

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