ClueBy
TodayArchiveWord list

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.

Make a worksheet

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
YesNo
↻ New worksheet

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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. capital — a city
  4. calf — a young animal
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — not warm
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. wax — to grow
  12. capital — money
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. cell — a phone
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cell — in biology
  18. straw — to clutch at straws

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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