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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: bark · content · wind · chair · swing · nail · land · perch

  1. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The ________________ went through the wall.
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — to shout
  2. perch — the fish
  3. content — happy
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. wind — moving air
  7. land — to come down
  8. swing — in golf
  9. land — ground
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. land — a country
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. content — the amount
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. chair — a leader
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. swing — music
  21. swing — to play on
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. wind — moving air

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