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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 120 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: pitcher · hand · nail · swing · rash · field · perch · row

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. hand — help
  6. rash — a series
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. rash — hasty
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. row — a line
  13. swing — in golf
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. swing — music
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — a subject
  18. nail — on a finger
  19. field — for sport
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. swing — to play on
  22. perch — the fish
  23. row — to paddle
  24. nail — for a hammer

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