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 120 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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. bore — to tire
  4. band — a music group
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. bark — to shout
  9. clip — to cut
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. cold — not warm
  12. clip — for paper
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. dip — to sink
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. clip — a video
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. bore — to drill
  22. scale — size or range
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. scale — in music

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