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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: lean · clip · fork · land · march · perch · saw · chest

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  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. lean — thin
  2. lean — to bend
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. land — to come down
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. march — music
  8. clip — for paper
  9. saw — the tool
  10. saw — the tool
  11. clip — to cut
  12. chest — of your body
  13. perch — the fish
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. march — the month
  16. chest — a box
  17. fork — in a road
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. land — a country
  20. clip — a video
  21. land — ground
  22. march — the month
  23. chest — of your body
  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