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. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. trunk — of a tree
  3. spell — magic
  4. clip — for paper
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. cell — in biology
  7. capital — a city
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. cell — a phone
  14. kid — to tease
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. clip — to cut
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. kid — child
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. spell — letters
  22. clip — a video
  23. spell — a short time
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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