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. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — an illness
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. pitch — completely
  11. clip — to cut
  12. prune — to trim
  13. kid — to tease
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. kid — child
  16. bark — to shout
  17. clip — for paper
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. clip — a video
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. stand — for spectators

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