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. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. shower — to wash
  4. prune — to trim
  5. board — a flat piece
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. game — a match
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. game — wild animals
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. board — a committee
  14. prune — to trim
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. bowl — a football final
  18. shower — rain
  19. cold — an illness
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. cold — not warm
  23. pitch — completely
  24. game — a kind of play

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