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 116 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 water is too ________________.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. 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. cold — not warm
  2. wax — to grow
  3. last — to go on
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. bulb — for light
  6. last — final
  7. mine — for digging
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bulb — for light
  11. race — humankind
  12. spring — the season
  13. cold — an illness
  14. race — a contest
  15. land — a country
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. last — finally
  18. spring — a coil
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. spring — of water
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. land — to come down
  23. race — the arms race
  24. 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