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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. wake — a trail
  5. land — to come down
  6. chest — of your body
  7. chest — a box
  8. roll — a list
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. land — a country
  12. chest — of your body
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. roll — a cake
  15. shower — rain
  16. shower — to wash
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. stem — to come from
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bat — the animal

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