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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. tube — a container
  3. clip — for paper
  4. spell — a short time
  5. cold — not warm
  6. stem — to come from
  7. spell — magic
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. cold — an illness
  11. spell — letters
  12. clip — a video
  13. net — for catching
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. net — after costs
  16. perch — the fish
  17. squash — the sport
  18. squash — to crush
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. tube — the underground
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. net — in sport

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