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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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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: chest · mine · coach · tear · lash · content · perch · degree

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. degree — an amount
  3. lash — an eyelash
  4. content — the amount
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. mine — for digging
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. content — happy
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. tear — from crying
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. chest — of your body
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. degree — from a university
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. tear — to rip
  20. chest — a box
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. tear — from crying
  23. degree — temperature
  24. chest — of your body

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