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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. mate — a partner
  3. court — of a king
  4. mate — a friend
  5. court — of law
  6. mate — to breed
  7. wound — an injury
  8. spring — the season
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. court — for sport
  12. capital — a city
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. spring — a coil
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. spring — of water
  19. deal — to handle
  20. branch — a division
  21. cold — an illness
  22. capital — money
  23. wound — an injury
  24. cold — not warm

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