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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. My father caught me by the ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. bark — a dog's sound
  3. capital — money
  4. press — a publisher
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. shower — to wash
  8. last — to go on
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bark — to shout
  12. capital — a city
  13. press — to push
  14. spell — letters
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. spell — a short time
  17. last — final
  18. shower — rain
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. press — newspapers
  22. cold — not warm
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. spell — magic

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