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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. My mare is ________________ in color.
  7. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. capital — a big letter
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. cell — a phone
  6. bay — a horse colour
  7. bay — to keep at bay
  8. wound — an injury
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. capital — money
  12. bay — a part of the sea
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. game — a match
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. kid — child
  18. cell — in biology
  19. wound — an injury
  20. pound — a weight
  21. capital — a city
  22. bat — the animal
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. game — wild animals

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