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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. track — a song
  3. clip — to cut
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. scale — size or range
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. game — a match
  9. cold — not warm
  10. bat — the animal
  11. clip — for paper
  12. squash — to crush
  13. clip — a video
  14. kid — to tease
  15. scale — in music
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. game — wild animals
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. track — to keep track
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. track — a path
  23. cold — an illness
  24. squash — the sport

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