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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. tear — from crying
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — to cut
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. game — wild animals
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. wind — moving air
  9. game — a match
  10. tear — from crying
  11. clip — a video
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. bear — the animal
  14. tear — to rip
  15. bear — the animal
  16. file — a line of people
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. fork — in a road
  19. file — a document
  20. wind — moving air
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. file — a tool
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. pitcher — a jug

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