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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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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: snap · arm · race · craft · sharp · hand · lean · cold

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. lean — to bend
  3. craft — a skill
  4. sharp — clever
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. hand — in cards
  8. hand — help
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. craft — boats
  11. snap — to click
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. cold — an illness
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. cold — not warm
  19. race — the arms race
  20. race — a contest
  21. race — humankind
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. lean — thin
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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