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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. clip — a video
  4. toast — the most admired
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. content — happy
  7. toast — bread
  8. perch — the fish
  9. clip — for paper
  10. cold — an illness
  11. saw — the tool
  12. arm — a part of something
  13. content — the amount
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. bass — the fish
  16. cold — not warm
  17. clip — to cut
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. bass — low music
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bass — the instrument

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