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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. Did you ________________ the button?
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. mate — a friend
  4. snap — to click
  5. pop — soda
  6. cold — not warm
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. hand — in cards
  9. pop — music
  10. press — a publisher
  11. hand — help
  12. mate — a partner
  13. press — to push
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. press — newspapers
  16. mate — to breed
  17. shower — rain
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. shower — to wash
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. mark — a trace
  24. mark — a grade

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