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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. jam — in traffic
  4. spring — the season
  5. hand — in cards
  6. spring — a coil
  7. cell — in biology
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. clip — to cut
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — a video
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. cell — a phone
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. wake — a trail
  17. jam — to spread on bread
  18. row — a line
  19. row — to paddle
  20. hand — help
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. spring — of water

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