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. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. net — after costs
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bass — the fish
  7. safe — a strongbox
  8. net — in sport
  9. bass — low music
  10. chair — to sit on
  11. clip — a video
  12. cold — an illness
  13. net — for catching
  14. safe — out of danger
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. safe — out of danger
  17. clip — to cut
  18. chair — a professorship
  19. clip — for paper
  20. row — to paddle
  21. chair — a leader
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bass — the instrument

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