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: staff · chest · cap · key · wind · tear · sharp · clip

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. Hard work is the ________________ to success.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. cap — a hat
  3. key — for a lock
  4. clip — a video
  5. chest — of your body
  6. cap — a lid
  7. staff — a stick
  8. staff — employees
  9. tear — to rip
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. clip — to cut
  12. wind — moving air
  13. tear — from crying
  14. chest — of your body
  15. cap — of ice
  16. clip — for paper
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. wind — moving air
  20. key — in music
  21. tear — from crying
  22. chest — a box
  23. sharp — clever
  24. key — the most important part

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