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 124 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 birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  2. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. My mare is ________________ in color.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. bay — a part of the sea
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cold — not warm
  5. drill — army training
  6. snap — to click
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. drill — the tool
  10. clip — for paper
  11. bay — a horse colour
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. pitch — completely
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. perch — the fish
  16. chest — of your body
  17. drill — a practice
  18. cold — an illness
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. clip — to cut
  21. chest — a box
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. clip — a video
  24. bay — to keep at bay

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