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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. cold — an illness
  3. land — to come down
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. snap — to click
  7. land — a country
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. net — for catching
  11. net — after costs
  12. cold — not warm
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bark — to shout
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. land — ground

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