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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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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: file · wave · content · cap · chest · shower · perch · cabinet

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  3. What do you think of the new ________________?
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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. cabinet — ministers
  4. cap — a hat
  5. content — the amount
  6. file — a tool
  7. wave — with your hand
  8. shower — rain
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. perch — the fish
  13. cap — of ice
  14. file — a document
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. cap — a lid
  17. file — a line of people
  18. chest — of your body
  19. shower — to wash
  20. chest — a box
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. cabinet — ministers
  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