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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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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: clip · sharp · squash · court · cell · snap

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. snap — to click
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. squash — to crush
  7. court — of law
  8. cell — a phone
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. squash — the sport
  12. clip — for paper
  13. court — for sport
  14. sharp — clever
  15. cell — in biology
  16. court — of a king
  17. clip — a video
  18. clip — to cut

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