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 120 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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. mine — for digging
  5. net — after costs
  6. capital — money
  7. band — a music group
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. band — a ring
  10. capital — a city
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cold — an illness
  13. net — for catching
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. present — there
  16. present — the time now
  17. wound — an injury
  18. present — a gift
  19. net — in sport
  20. wake — a trail
  21. cold — not warm
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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