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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cold — not warm
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. cold — an illness
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. content — happy
  10. key — for a lock
  11. squash — the sport
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. clip — to cut
  14. wind — moving air
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. pit — a hole
  17. pit — in a race
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. content — the amount
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. squash — to crush
  22. key — in music
  23. key — the most important part
  24. clip — a video

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