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 chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Where did you ________________ them?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. rule — to rule out
  3. degree — from a university
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. degree — temperature
  6. mine — for digging
  7. rule — a law
  8. mug — a face
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. cold — an illness
  12. mug — to rob
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. game — a match
  15. rule — government
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. sharp — clever
  18. mug — a cup
  19. clip — for paper
  20. game — wild animals
  21. degree — an amount
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — to cut

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