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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. face — to point toward
  3. race — the arms race
  4. hand — help
  5. race — humankind
  6. file — a tool
  7. face — to confront
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — to cut
  10. face — part of the head
  11. hand — in cards
  12. clip — for paper
  13. last — to go on
  14. stem — to come from
  15. cold — an illness
  16. file — a document
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. cold — not warm
  19. race — a contest
  20. last — finally
  21. file — a line of people
  22. last — final
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. stem — of a plant

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