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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: tear · field · wound · club · swing · kid · sharp · perch

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. David sat on the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. sharp — clever
  3. swing — music
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tear — from crying
  7. club — for dancing
  8. perch — the fish
  9. field — a subject
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. club — a group
  13. kid — child
  14. wound — an injury
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. kid — to tease
  18. tear — to rip
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. swing — in golf
  21. field — farmland
  22. club — for golf
  23. wound — an injury
  24. swing — to play on

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