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. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. file — a tool
  4. bear — the animal
  5. cold — an illness
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. bear — the animal
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cap — of ice
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. file — a document
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. cap — a hat
  20. wake — a trail
  21. chair — a leader
  22. file — a line of people
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. cap — a lid

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