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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: perch · net · last · bat · patient · bore · court · clip

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. last — final
  3. bat — the animal
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. court — of a king
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. clip — to cut
  8. court — of law
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. net — for catching
  12. perch — the fish
  13. bore — to drill
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bore — to tire
  16. net — after costs
  17. net — in sport
  18. last — finally
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. court — for sport
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. clip — a video
  24. perch — for a bird

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