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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. saw — the tool
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. hand — in cards
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. cold — not warm
  11. hand — help
  12. saw — the tool
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. cold — an illness
  16. land — ground
  17. bat — the animal
  18. branch — a division
  19. land — a country
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. land — to come down
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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