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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. band — a ring
  6. row — a line
  7. degree — from a university
  8. cell — in biology
  9. cap — a hat
  10. cell — a phone
  11. rush — hurry
  12. clip — a video
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. row — to paddle
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. degree — an amount
  17. cap — of ice
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. band — a music group
  20. clip — for paper
  21. snap — to click
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. clip — to cut
  24. degree — temperature

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