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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: content · row · pit · wound · perch · fall · mark · kid

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. fall — to drop
  3. perch — the fish
  4. content — happy
  5. pit — a hole
  6. row — a line
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. pit — in a race
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. wound — an injury
  13. fall — to drop
  14. mark — a grade
  15. row — to paddle
  16. wound — an injury
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. kid — child
  19. content — the amount
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. mark — a trace
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. fall — the season
  24. kid — to tease

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