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: club · capital · cabinet · race · chair · cell · clip · spring

  1. What do you think of the new ________________?
  2. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  3. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. capital — money
  3. cabinet — a cupboard
  4. capital — a city
  5. chair — a leader
  6. clip — to cut
  7. club — for dancing
  8. spring — of water
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. cell — in biology
  11. race — a contest
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. clip — for paper
  14. race — the arms race
  15. spring — a coil
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. spring — the season
  18. cell — a phone
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. club — for golf
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. clip — a video
  23. race — humankind
  24. club — a group

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