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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — of water
  6. scale — size or range
  7. spring — a coil
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. cold — not warm
  10. content — happy
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. content — the amount
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. prune — to trim
  15. cold — an illness
  16. fall — to drop
  17. prune — to trim
  18. fall — the season
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. scale — in music
  24. fall — to drop

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