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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: ball · stick · perch · content · chest · wound · lean · straw

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  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. perch — for a bird
  2. content — happy
  3. wound — an injury
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. lean — thin
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. chest — of your body
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. chest — a box
  11. ball — a great time
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. wound — an injury
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. stick — to attach or keep to
  18. ball — a dance
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. perch — the fish
  21. content — the amount
  22. chest — of your body
  23. lean — to bend
  24. perch — for a bird

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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