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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. staff — employees
  3. staff — employees
  4. chest — of your body
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. pop — soda
  8. staff — a stick
  9. pop — to visit
  10. march — music
  11. game — wild animals
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. chest — a box
  15. game — a match
  16. march — the month
  17. march — the month
  18. shower — to wash
  19. cold — not warm
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. chest — of your body

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