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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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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: file · wake · content · mouse · capital · perch · snap · cell

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. content — the amount
  5. perch — the fish
  6. capital — a city
  7. file — a line of people
  8. file — a document
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. snap — to click
  13. mouse — for a computer
  14. wake — a trail
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. cell — a phone
  18. capital — money
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. cell — in biology
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. file — a tool

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