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 potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. bark — of a tree
  4. content — happy
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. degree — an amount
  7. clip — for paper
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. shower — rain
  10. clip — a video
  11. chip — for betting
  12. cell — a phone
  13. clip — to cut
  14. content — the amount
  15. chair — a leader
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. degree — from a university
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. shower — to wash
  22. bark — to shout
  23. degree — temperature
  24. cell — in biology

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