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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The ________________ went through the wall.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. ground — the earth
  3. march — the month
  4. scale — size or range
  5. ground — a position
  6. game — a match
  7. march — music
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — to rip
  11. march — the month
  12. tear — from crying
  13. content — happy
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. ground — crushed
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. scale — in music
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. game — wild animals
  24. content — the amount

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