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: tear · last · stem · wind · perch · hand · clip · ball

  1. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. ball — a dance
  3. wind — moving air
  4. clip — to cut
  5. last — to go on
  6. tear — to rip
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. clip — a video
  9. wind — moving air
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. tear — from crying
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. last — final
  16. perch — the fish
  17. clip — for paper
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. hand — help
  20. hand — in cards
  21. stem — to come from
  22. tear — from crying
  23. last — finally
  24. ball — a round shape

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