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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — dry grass
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. stem — to come from
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. spring — the season
  9. mine — for digging
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. spring — of water
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. clip — to cut
  14. branch — a division
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. cell — a phone
  17. perch — the fish
  18. spring — a coil
  19. cell — in biology
  20. clip — for paper
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. clip — a video
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. straw — a straw man

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