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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. row — a line
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. craft — a skill
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. clip — to cut
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. field — for sport
  11. field — farmland
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. cold — an illness
  14. clip — a video
  15. dip — to sink
  16. craft — boats
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. clip — for paper
  19. rush — hurry
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. row — to paddle
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. field — a subject
  24. leaves — of a tree

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