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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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · scale · swing · date · wound · wax · content · chest

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. perch — for a bird
  3. wound — an injury
  4. swing — in golf
  5. scale — size or range
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. chest — of your body
  9. swing — music
  10. scale — in music
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wound — an injury
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. perch — the fish
  15. content — the amount
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. wax — to grow
  18. swing — to play on
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. date — the fruit
  21. chest — a box
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. wax — for sculpting

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