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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. Did you ________________ the button?
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. cold — an illness
  5. tube — the underground
  6. press — a publisher
  7. chest — of your body
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. chest — of your body
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. cell — in biology
  12. press — to push
  13. toast — bread
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. cold — not warm
  16. chest — a box
  17. press — newspapers
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. tube — a container
  20. chair — a leader
  21. cell — a phone
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. tube — in a tire

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