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

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The ________________ went through the wall.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. march — the month
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. cold — an illness
  5. degree — an amount
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. scale — in music
  8. tear — from crying
  9. shower — to wash
  10. squash — to crush
  11. squash — the sport
  12. tear — to rip
  13. shower — rain
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. scale — size or range
  16. degree — from a university
  17. march — the month
  18. degree — temperature
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. tear — from crying
  22. march — music
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. cold — not warm

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