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: season · degree · fall · chair · bulb · hand · clip · wound

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. fall — to drop
  3. season — in sport
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. clip — to cut
  6. hand — in cards
  7. degree — from a university
  8. clip — a video
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. chair — a leader
  11. wound — an injury
  12. degree — an amount
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. hand — help
  16. degree — temperature
  17. fall — the season
  18. fall — to drop
  19. wound — an injury
  20. season — of the year
  21. bulb — for light
  22. bulb — for light
  23. bulb — of a plant
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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