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 · bark · clip · stock · sharp · cold · rule · spring

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stock — goods
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. cold — not warm
  8. snap — to click
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. spring — a coil
  11. clip — a video
  12. rule — government
  13. sharp — with an edge
  14. bark — to shout
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. sharp — clever
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. spring — of water
  19. clip — for paper
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. spring — the season
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rule — a law
  24. stock — shares

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