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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. clip — a video
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. row — to paddle
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. last — final
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. kid — child
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. bat — the animal
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. clip — for paper
  16. kid — to tease
  17. clip — to cut
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. fine — all right
  20. row — a line
  21. last — finally
  22. last — to go on
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. fine — high quality

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