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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. game — a match
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. tube — a container
  5. game — wild animals
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. pop — to visit
  8. cold — an illness
  9. pop — soda
  10. drill — army training
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. cold — not warm
  14. drill — a practice
  15. tube — the underground
  16. shower — rain
  17. drill — the tool
  18. pop — music
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. scale — in music
  22. scale — size or range
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. shower — to wash

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