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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. fall — the season
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. band — a music group
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. band — a ring
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. fall — to drop
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. degree — an amount
  11. spell — a short time
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. stem — to come from
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. fall — to drop
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. mine — for digging
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. tear — from crying
  20. spell — magic
  21. degree — from a university
  22. degree — temperature
  23. spell — letters
  24. tear — to rip

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