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. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — for betting
  2. mine — for digging
  3. capital — a city
  4. staff — employees
  5. land — ground
  6. scale — in music
  7. land — to come down
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. staff — a stick
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. chip — to eat
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — an illness
  17. cold — not warm
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. stem — to come from
  20. land — a country
  21. scale — size or range
  22. staff — employees
  23. capital — money
  24. stem — of a plant

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