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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  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. clip — to cut
  2. land — a country
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. saw — the tool
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. shower — to wash
  7. date — the fruit
  8. land — to come down
  9. bear — the animal
  10. hand — help
  11. row — a line
  12. clip — a video
  13. shower — rain
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. land — ground
  16. clip — for paper
  17. row — to paddle
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. saw — the tool
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. hand — in cards
  23. bear — the animal
  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