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. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  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. wax — to grow
  2. chest — of your body
  3. net — in sport
  4. lean — thin
  5. spring — a coil
  6. wax — for sculpting
  7. tear — from crying
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. net — after costs
  10. hand — help
  11. chest — of your body
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. net — for catching
  14. hand — in cards
  15. wax — in the ear
  16. lean — to bend
  17. spring — the season
  18. chest — a box
  19. tear — to rip
  20. plane — a tool
  21. tear — from crying
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. plane — an aircraft
  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