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. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  14. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. degree — from a university
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. chest — of your body
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. degree — temperature
  9. cold — an illness
  10. toast — the most admired
  11. file — a document
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. toast — a drink to someone
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. dip — to sink
  16. chest — a box
  17. wound — an injury
  18. degree — an amount
  19. perch — the fish
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. file — a tool
  22. file — a line of people
  23. wound — an injury
  24. toast — bread

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