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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. cold — an illness
  3. march — the month
  4. bat — the animal
  5. cold — not warm
  6. rock — music
  7. march — music
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. march — the month
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. wake — a trail
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. rock — a stone
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. game — a match

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