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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. last — final
  3. bore — to tire
  4. bear — the animal
  5. spell — a short time
  6. temple — a place of worship
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. shower — to wash
  9. spell — letters
  10. bore — to drill
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. spell — magic
  13. bear — the animal
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. last — finally
  18. cold — not warm
  19. shower — rain
  20. cold — an illness
  21. kid — child
  22. last — to go on
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. temple — side of the head

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