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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bat · perch · band · mark · last · chest · file · sharp

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. bat — the animal
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. file — a line of people
  5. chest — of your body
  6. band — a music group
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. last — final
  12. sharp — clever
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. chest — a box
  16. perch — the fish
  17. band — a ring
  18. mark — a trace
  19. mark — a grade
  20. last — to go on
  21. last — finally
  22. file — a document
  23. chest — of your body
  24. file — a tool

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