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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. stem — to come from
  6. cold — an illness
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. bat — the animal
  10. firm — steady
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. plane — a tool
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. firm — decided
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. season — of the year
  19. firm — a company
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. season — in sport
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. game — wild animals
  24. plane — an aircraft

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