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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: game · snap · wake · kid · content · pound · march · perch

  1. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. content — the amount
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to click
  9. march — the month
  10. kid — child
  11. march — music
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. kid — to tease
  16. perch — the fish
  17. game — a match
  18. march — the month
  19. game — wild animals
  20. wake — to stop sleeping
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. pound — a weight
  23. content — happy
  24. wake — a trail

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