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. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — videos and posts
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. land — a country
  4. rule — government
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. rule — a law
  7. bark — to shout
  8. scale — in music
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. content — the amount
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. content — happy
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. saw — the tool
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. saw — the tool
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — not warm
  20. land — to come down
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. land — ground
  24. scale — size or range

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