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. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. face — to confront
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. land — ground
  4. face — to point toward
  5. wax — to grow
  6. march — music
  7. cue — a signal
  8. clip — to cut
  9. face — part of the head
  10. cue — for pool
  11. cue — a hint
  12. clip — for paper
  13. hand — in cards
  14. march — the month
  15. wax — for sculpting
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. march — the month
  18. clip — a video
  19. hand — help
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. land — to come down
  23. cold — not warm
  24. land — a country

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