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

Word bank: content · hand · mine · tear · clip · straw · pop · mate

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. mate — to breed
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. content — happy
  5. pop — soda
  6. pop — to visit
  7. pop — music
  8. tear — from crying
  9. hand — in cards
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. clip — to cut
  12. clip — for paper
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. tear — to rip
  15. mate — a friend
  16. mine — for digging
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. clip — a video
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. mate — a partner
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. content — the amount
  23. hand — help
  24. hand — part of the body

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