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 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.

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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. last — finally
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. swing — to play on
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. last — final
  7. clip — for paper
  8. swing — in golf
  9. clip — a video
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. bat — the animal
  12. clip — to cut
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. stem — to come from
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. swing — music
  18. wound — an injury

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