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 116 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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. spring — of water
  4. cell — a phone
  5. club — for golf
  6. club — a group
  7. bass — the fish
  8. cold — not warm
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. scale — in music
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bark — to shout
  13. scale — size or range
  14. club — for dancing
  15. season — of the year
  16. season — in sport
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. bass — low music
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. cell — in biology
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. spring — the season
  24. cold — an illness

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