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

  1. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — with an edge
  2. season — in sport
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. bat — the animal
  6. clip — for paper
  7. fall — the season
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. snap — to click
  13. fall — to drop
  14. season — of the year
  15. sharp — clever
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. fall — to drop
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. clip — a video
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. fan — to cool the 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