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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: perch · march · pop · content · straw · bark · hand · board

  1. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — to clutch at straws
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. content — happy
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. hand — help
  7. march — music
  8. march — the month
  9. pop — music
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. board — a committee
  12. pop — to visit
  13. board — to get on
  14. bark — to shout
  15. perch — the fish
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. hand — in cards
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. pop — soda
  23. march — the month
  24. content — the amount

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