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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. spell — letters
  3. cold — an illness
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. cold — not warm
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. clip — for paper
  9. root — of a plant
  10. chair — a leader
  11. snap — to click
  12. spell — a short time
  13. root — the cause
  14. clip — a video
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. branch — a division
  17. spell — magic
  18. root — of a word
  19. clip — to cut
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. perch — the fish
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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