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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. capital — money
  4. hand — help
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. spring — the season
  7. spring — of water
  8. clip — to cut
  9. wound — an injury
  10. capital — a city
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. hand — in cards
  13. clip — a video
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. wound — an injury
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. deal — to handle
  22. clip — for paper
  23. wax — to grow
  24. deal — a big deal

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