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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  10. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. present — there
  3. spring — the season
  4. cold — not warm
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. rash — hasty
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. game — a match
  9. present — the time now
  10. staff — employees
  11. stock — goods
  12. staff — employees
  13. cold — an illness
  14. spring — a coil
  15. stock — shares
  16. spring — of water
  17. staff — a stick
  18. rash — a series
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. present — a gift
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. shower — rain
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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