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: stem · shower · content · capital · tube · land · fall · wax

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. shower — rain
  3. wax — to grow
  4. land — to come down
  5. land — ground
  6. capital — a city
  7. tube — in a tire
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. capital — money
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. tube — a container
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. fall — the season
  15. content — happy
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. fall — to drop
  18. shower — to wash
  19. land — a country
  20. fall — to drop
  21. tube — the underground
  22. stem — to come from
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. stem — a stem cell

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