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. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. tear — from crying
  3. cold — not warm
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. court — for sport
  6. tear — from crying
  7. present — a gift
  8. court — of a king
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. tear — to rip
  11. present — there
  12. scale — in music
  13. cold — an illness
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. hand — help
  16. scale — size or range
  17. hand — in cards
  18. present — the time now
  19. ball — a dance
  20. ball — a great time
  21. content — happy
  22. content — the amount
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. hand — part of the body

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