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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: mouse · row · chest · wound · court · content · bark · lean

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. row — to paddle
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. lean — to bend
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. chest — of your body
  10. chest — a box
  11. court — of a king
  12. row — a line
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. court — for sport
  16. chest — of your body
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. content — the amount
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. lean — thin
  22. bark — to shout
  23. wound — an injury
  24. court — of law

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