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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. degree — an amount
  3. bark — to shout
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. wind — moving air
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. stem — to come from
  8. lie — to recline
  9. swing — music
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. file — a tool
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wound — an injury
  17. swing — in golf
  18. degree — from a university
  19. degree — temperature
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. file — a document
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. file — a line of people
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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