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 116 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: hand · wind · tear · pitch · capital · kid · last · ball

  1. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. kid — to tease
  3. wind — moving air
  4. ball — a dance
  5. capital — a city
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. last — to go on
  9. ball — a great time
  10. tear — to rip
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. hand — help
  13. hand — in cards
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. capital — money
  16. pitch — completely
  17. wind — moving air
  18. tear — from crying
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. last — final
  21. tear — from crying
  22. last — finally
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. kid — child

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