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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 116 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.

Words on the sheet
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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: land · press · pitcher · kid · straw · perch · last · field

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. field — for sport
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. press — a publisher
  7. land — a country
  8. press — newspapers
  9. press — to push
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. land — ground
  13. land — to come down
  14. kid — to tease
  15. field — farmland
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. last — to go on
  18. perch — the fish
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. field — a subject
  21. last — finally
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. kid — child

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