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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The King held a masked ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. land — to come down
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. land — ground
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. kid — to tease
  9. content — the amount
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cue — a signal
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. cue — a hint
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. kid — child
  17. ball — a great time
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. ball — a dance
  20. wake — a trail
  21. cue — for pool
  22. land — a country
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wake — to stop sleeping

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