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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. capital — a city
  6. row — to paddle
  7. clip — a video
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. capital — money
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. patient — calm and waiting
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. wind — moving air
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. clip — for paper
  18. clip — to cut
  19. snap — to click
  20. kick — in football
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. row — a line
  24. kick — with a leg

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