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 120 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 water is too ________________.
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  18. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. cold — an illness
  6. stock — shares
  7. game — a match
  8. spell — a short time
  9. court — for sport
  10. game — wild animals
  11. stock — goods
  12. spell — letters
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. shower — to wash
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. arm — a part of something
  18. stock — a soup base
  19. court — of law
  20. spell — magic
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. court — of a king
  24. shower — rain

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