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: land · rock · staff · kid · clip · tear · cold · pitch

  1. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — to move gently
  2. tear — from crying
  3. staff — employees
  4. kid — child
  5. staff — employees
  6. staff — a stick
  7. clip — to cut
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. cold — an illness
  10. land — ground
  11. land — to come down
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. cold — not warm
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. kid — to tease
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. rock — music
  18. rock — a stone
  19. pitch — completely
  20. land — a country
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — for paper
  23. tear — to rip
  24. tear — from crying

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