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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: wound · face · file · perch · snap · hand · swing · content

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. snap — to click
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. file — a line of people
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. content — happy
  7. face — to confront
  8. face — part of the head
  9. file — a document
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. hand — in cards
  12. wound — an injury
  13. hand — help
  14. wound — an injury
  15. swing — music
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. swing — in golf
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. file — a tool
  20. perch — the fish
  21. face — to point toward
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. swing — to play on
  24. perch — for a bird

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