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 water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  21. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. swing — in golf
  5. swing — music
  6. spring — a coil
  7. swing — to play on
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. spring — of water
  10. ground — crushed
  11. spring — the season
  12. object — a thing
  13. ground — the earth
  14. prune — to trim
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. prune — to trim
  17. bowl — to roll
  18. bear — the animal
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. object — to protest
  21. object — an aim
  22. ground — a position
  23. bear — the animal
  24. bowl — a football final

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