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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. trunk — of a car
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. spring — a coil
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. rash — a series
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. cold — not warm
  12. wind — moving air
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. race — a contest
  15. cold — an illness
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — of water
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. race — humankind
  20. rash — hasty
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. wind — moving air
  24. race — the arms race

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