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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. march — the month
  5. snap — to click
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. bark — to shout
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. sharp — clever
  11. bat — the animal
  12. march — the month
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. march — music
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. pitcher — a jug

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