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. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. land — to come down
  3. fall — to drop
  4. chair — a leader
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. cold — an illness
  7. land — ground
  8. march — the month
  9. fall — to drop
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. pound — a weight
  12. mate — a partner
  13. march — music
  14. march — the month
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. mate — a friend
  19. pit — a hole
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. pit — in a race
  22. land — a country
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. fall — the season

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