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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. field — a subject
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. hand — help
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. field — for sport
  8. chest — of your body
  9. bark — to shout
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. ruler — a monarch
  12. field — farmland
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. kick — in football
  15. date — the fruit
  16. hand — in cards
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. chest — of your body
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. chest — a box
  24. ruler — for measuring

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