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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. chest — of your body
  7. race — the arms race
  8. degree — an amount
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. race — humankind
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. chest — a box
  13. race — a contest
  14. chest — of your body
  15. chip — for betting
  16. cold — not warm
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. degree — from a university
  19. squash — to crush
  20. rush — hurry
  21. cold — an illness
  22. degree — temperature
  23. chip — to eat
  24. coach — a trainer

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