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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: bark · lean · land · season · hand · bulb · perch · pitch

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. season — of the year
  4. bulb — for light
  5. bulb — for light
  6. hand — help
  7. land — to come down
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. lean — thin
  12. bark — to shout
  13. land — ground
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. pitch — completely
  18. perch — the fish
  19. land — a country
  20. lean — to bend
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. season — in sport
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. hand — in cards

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