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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kick · cell · bat · wind · game · clip

  1. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. clip — to cut
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — the animal
  5. clip — for paper
  6. wind — moving air
  7. game — a match
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. cell — a phone
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. cell — in biology
  14. kick — in football
  15. clip — a video
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. game — wild animals
  18. kick — a thrill

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