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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. tear — from crying
  5. swing — to play on
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. swing — music
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. hand — help
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. tear — to rip
  13. clip — to cut
  14. swing — in golf
  15. last — finally
  16. tear — from crying
  17. clip — for paper
  18. last — to go on
  19. hand — in cards
  20. bat — the animal
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. kid — child
  23. last — final
  24. clip — a video

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