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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: cold · perch · chest · safe · content · sharp · march · dip

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. march — music
  3. chest — of your body
  4. march — the month
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. cold — an illness
  9. dip — to sink
  10. safe — out of danger
  11. chest — of your body
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. safe — out of danger
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. cold — not warm
  16. content — the amount
  17. safe — a strongbox
  18. content — happy
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. sharp — clever
  22. perch — the fish
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. chest — a box

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