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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: content · plane · chip · cold · row · pass · march · perch

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. march — the month
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. content — happy
  5. pass — a permit
  6. perch — the fish
  7. plane — a tool
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. chip — to eat
  11. row — a line
  12. cold — an illness
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. row — to paddle
  16. content — the amount
  17. cold — not warm
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. march — music
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. chip — for betting
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. march — the month

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