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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · kid · sharp · racket · land · coach · clip · plane

  1. It's one o'clock ________________.
  2. The ________________ took off on time.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — exactly
  2. plane — an aircraft
  3. land — a country
  4. kid — to tease
  5. sharp — clever
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. land — to come down
  10. kid — child
  11. clip — to cut
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. land — ground
  15. cold — not warm
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. cold — an illness
  20. clip — a video
  21. plane — a tool
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. clip — for paper

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