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 116 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 is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. last — to go on
  5. clip — a video
  6. clip — to cut
  7. degree — temperature
  8. degree — from a university
  9. ground — crushed
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. last — finally
  12. cold — not warm
  13. tear — from crying
  14. ground — the earth
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. ground — a position
  18. dip — to sink
  19. tear — from crying
  20. dip — to dunk
  21. degree — an amount
  22. cold — an illness
  23. last — final
  24. clip — for paper

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