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 116 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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. capital — a city
  3. cold — not warm
  4. game — wild animals
  5. band — a music group
  6. snap — to click
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. root — of a plant
  10. clip — to cut
  11. clip — a video
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. vault — an arched ceiling
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. capital — money
  18. game — a match
  19. vault — a safe
  20. root — of a word
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. clip — for paper
  23. root — the cause
  24. band — a ring

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