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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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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: spring · snap · clip · cell · bowl · coach · sharp · cue

  1. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. 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. bowl — to roll
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. cue — a hint
  4. cue — a signal
  5. snap — to click
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. sharp — clever
  10. spring — of water
  11. spring — the season
  12. cell — in biology
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. clip — a video
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. cue — for pool
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. spring — a coil
  21. clip — for paper
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. cell — a phone
  24. 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