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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. clip — to cut
  3. capital — a city
  4. tear — to rip
  5. spring — a coil
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. net — in sport
  8. capital — money
  9. tear — from crying
  10. pop — to visit
  11. prune — to trim
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. spring — of water
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. tear — from crying
  16. net — for catching
  17. pop — music
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. clip — a video
  20. net — after costs
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. pop — soda
  23. clip — for paper
  24. spring — the season

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