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: capital · cold · craft · nail · spell · land · tear · snap

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. land — ground
  3. craft — a skill
  4. spell — a short time
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. capital — a city
  8. capital — money
  9. spell — letters
  10. cold — not warm
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. tear — to rip
  14. tear — from crying
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. snap — to click
  17. spell — magic
  18. land — a country
  19. land — to come down
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. cold — an illness
  23. tear — from crying
  24. cold — the Cold War

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