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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. scale — in music
  3. land — ground
  4. land — to come down
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. fall — the season
  7. shower — to wash
  8. object — a thing
  9. scale — size or range
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. court — for sport
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. object — to protest
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. capital — money
  17. fall — to drop
  18. capital — a city
  19. object — an aim
  20. shower — rain
  21. court — of law
  22. land — a country
  23. fall — to drop
  24. court — of a king

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