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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 116 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: leaves · rest · kid · hand · perch · field · fan · row

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. perch — the fish
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. rest — a break
  8. rest — what's left
  9. hand — help
  10. rest — what's left
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. row — to paddle
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. field — a subject
  18. field — for sport
  19. row — a line
  20. leaves — lets stay
  21. kid — child
  22. field — farmland
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. hand — in cards

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