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. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — a division
  2. cold — not warm
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. squash — to crush
  5. mate — to breed
  6. prune — to trim
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. mate — a partner
  9. drill — the tool
  10. mate — a friend
  11. band — a ring
  12. prune — to trim
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — an illness
  16. kid — to tease
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. drill — a practice
  19. band — a music group
  20. drill — army training
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. squash — the sport
  23. kid — child
  24. squash — the vegetable

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