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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. net — after costs
  3. wake — a trail
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. chest — a box
  6. clip — a video
  7. lean — thin
  8. ground — crushed
  9. ground — a position
  10. game — a match
  11. chest — of your body
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. clip — for paper
  14. charge — in control
  15. charge — a price
  16. chest — of your body
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. net — in sport
  19. net — for catching
  20. ground — the earth
  21. charge — electricity
  22. game — wild animals
  23. lean — to bend
  24. clip — to cut

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