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 124 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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. kid — to tease
  3. degree — from a university
  4. band — a music group
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cell — a phone
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. stock — shares
  9. degree — temperature
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. mate — to breed
  12. degree — an amount
  13. cold — not warm
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. stock — goods
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cell — in biology
  20. mate — a friend
  21. band — a ring
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. mate — a partner

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