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

Word bank: plane · march · last · clip · board · bark · degree · tear

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. board — a committee
  3. tear — from crying
  4. march — music
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. bark — a dog's sound
  7. last — final
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. clip — for paper
  10. last — finally
  11. tear — from crying
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. plane — a tool
  15. board — to get on
  16. degree — temperature
  17. clip — to cut
  18. last — to go on
  19. clip — a video
  20. bark — to shout
  21. tear — to rip
  22. degree — an amount
  23. march — the month
  24. march — the month

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