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 120 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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. kid — to tease
  3. clip — to cut
  4. face — part of the head
  5. net — for catching
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. spring — the season
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. spring — a coil
  10. chair — a leader
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. net — in sport
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. clip — a video
  16. kid — child
  17. face — to point toward
  18. net — after costs
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. spring — of water
  23. clip — for paper
  24. racket — a loud noise

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