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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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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 · rest · bark · ground · chair · fall · band · field

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  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. band — a ring
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. ground — a position
  4. chair — a leader
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. perch — the fish
  7. fall — to drop
  8. rest — what's left
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. field — for sport
  11. ground — crushed
  12. field — a subject
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. rest — a break
  15. fall — to drop
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. bark — to shout
  18. ground — the earth
  19. band — a music group
  20. fall — the season
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. field — farmland
  23. rest — what's left
  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