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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. spring — of water
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. tube — the underground
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. face — part of the head
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. season — in sport
  10. pound — a weight
  11. face — to point toward
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wind — moving air
  14. face — to confront
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. tube — a container
  17. cold — not warm
  18. spring — a coil
  19. spring — the season
  20. scale — in music
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. season — of the year
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. scale — size or range

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