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 120 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 laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. land — ground
  4. fall — to drop
  5. bear — to put up with
  6. fall — to drop
  7. land — to come down
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. chest — of your body
  10. fine — a penalty
  11. bear — the animal
  12. land — a country
  13. ball — a great time
  14. cold — not warm
  15. chest — a box
  16. fine — all right
  17. cold — an illness
  18. clip — a video
  19. ball — a dance
  20. fine — high quality
  21. clip — for paper
  22. bear — the animal
  23. fall — the season
  24. clip — to cut

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