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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 · spring · chair · content · field · band · snap · march

  1. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. march — the month
  4. band — a ring
  5. field — a subject
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. spring — a coil
  8. field — farmland
  9. snap — to click
  10. spring — of water
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. spring — the season
  13. chair — to sit on
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. chair — a leader
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. march — the month
  18. field — for sport
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. march — music
  21. content — the amount
  22. perch — the fish
  23. band — a music group
  24. content — happy

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