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: leaves · clip · cold · key · straw · pitcher · jam · row

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. jam — a tight spot
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. cold — not warm
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. cold — an illness
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. key — in music
  12. row — a line
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. clip — a video
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. key — for a lock
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. clip — to cut
  22. row — to paddle
  23. key — the most important part
  24. straw — a straw man

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