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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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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: chip · field · swing · cold · perch · cabinet · lean · tear

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  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. tear — from crying
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. chip — to eat
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. swing — to play on
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. lean — to bend
  9. field — a subject
  10. field — farmland
  11. cold — not warm
  12. swing — in golf
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. lean — thin
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. tear — to rip
  18. field — for sport
  19. chip — for betting
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. tear — from crying
  23. swing — music
  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