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. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  24. The ________________ went through the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. cold — not warm
  3. scale — size or range
  4. clip — to cut
  5. squash — the sport
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. tear — to rip
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. land — ground
  12. tear — from crying
  13. clip — for paper
  14. squash — to crush
  15. land — to come down
  16. cold — an illness
  17. scale — in music
  18. land — a country
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. tear — from crying
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. nail — for a hammer

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