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: clip · cold · bowl · chest · tear · pitcher · march · sharp

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. clip — for paper
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. tear — from crying
  8. march — the month
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. tear — from crying
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. sharp — clever
  13. clip — to cut
  14. march — music
  15. chest — a box
  16. march — the month
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. cold — not warm
  19. chest — of your body
  20. tear — to rip
  21. chest — of your body
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. bowl — to roll

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