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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: perch · march · staff · bat · chair · land · game · bark

  1. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. perch — the fish
  3. march — the month
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. march — music
  7. staff — a stick
  8. land — a country
  9. staff — employees
  10. bat — the animal
  11. land — to come down
  12. game — wild animals
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. staff — employees
  15. march — the month
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. game — a match
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. chair — a leader
  22. land — ground
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. bark — to shout

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