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 116 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 had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — of water
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. stem — to come from
  9. prune — to trim
  10. net — after costs
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. wound — an injury
  14. cold — not warm
  15. net — in sport
  16. prune — to trim
  17. cell — in biology
  18. wound — an injury
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. cell — a phone
  21. spring — a coil
  22. net — for catching
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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