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 124 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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  24. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. perch — the fish
  3. degree — from a university
  4. tear — from crying
  5. press — to push
  6. chest — of your body
  7. clip — a video
  8. tear — to rip
  9. degree — temperature
  10. press — a publisher
  11. degree — an amount
  12. clip — for paper
  13. tube — a container
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. chest — of your body
  16. press — newspapers
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. clip — to cut
  19. tube — the underground
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. tear — from crying
  22. chest — a box
  23. tube — in a tire
  24. fan — a supporter

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