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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The ________________ market has crashed.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. clip — to cut
  3. capital — a city
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. stock — goods
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. stock — a soup base
  13. capital — money
  14. stock — shares
  15. pitch — completely
  16. chair — a leader
  17. rule — a law
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. clip — a video
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. rule — government
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. bat — the animal

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