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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. staff — employees
  3. rule — government
  4. degree — from a university
  5. content — happy
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. chest — of your body
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. staff — employees
  10. chest — of your body
  11. file — a line of people
  12. file — a tool
  13. degree — an amount
  14. file — a document
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. cold — not warm
  17. staff — a stick
  18. wind — moving air
  19. content — the amount
  20. degree — temperature
  21. chest — a box
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wind — moving air
  24. rule — a law

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