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: snap · land · prune · capital · clip · hand · degree · fall

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. fall — to drop
  3. land — to come down
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. snap — to click
  6. clip — to cut
  7. prune — to trim
  8. clip — a video
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. fall — the season
  11. hand — help
  12. degree — temperature
  13. land — ground
  14. clip — for paper
  15. hand — in cards
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. capital — a city
  19. degree — an amount
  20. fall — to drop
  21. land — a country
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. capital — money
  24. degree — from a university

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