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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. present — a gift
  3. land — a country
  4. march — music
  5. face — part of the head
  6. degree — temperature
  7. present — there
  8. land — ground
  9. last — finally
  10. face — to point toward
  11. march — the month
  12. last — final
  13. face — to confront
  14. march — the month
  15. spring — the season
  16. present — the time now
  17. clip — to cut
  18. spring — of water
  19. land — to come down
  20. spring — a coil
  21. last — to go on
  22. degree — an amount
  23. clip — a video
  24. degree — from a university

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