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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: bound · race · field · last · leaves · perch · bat · spell

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. That was ________________ to happen.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. race — a contest
  3. bound — tied together
  4. field — for sport
  5. bound — certain
  6. last — final
  7. field — a subject
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. race — the arms race
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. spell — letters
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bound — obliged
  16. last — to go on
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. spell — magic
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. spell — a short time
  22. perch — the fish
  23. last — finally
  24. race — humankind

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