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. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. clip — for paper
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. shower — rain
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. game — wild animals
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. clip — a video
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. degree — from a university
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. degree — temperature
  13. fall — to drop
  14. clip — to cut
  15. fall — the season
  16. game — a match
  17. shower — to wash
  18. pitch — completely
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. degree — an amount
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. fall — to drop
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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