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 water is too ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Did you ________________ the button?
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. game — wild animals
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. game — a match
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. press — a publisher
  9. cold — an illness
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. row — to paddle
  12. row — a line
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. press — newspapers
  17. mine — for digging
  18. wound — an injury
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. press — to push
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. pitch — completely
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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