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. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. mate — to breed
  3. perch — the fish
  4. spell — letters
  5. spell — magic
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. mate — a friend
  8. mate — a partner
  9. cold — an illness
  10. face — to confront
  11. face — part of the head
  12. spring — the season
  13. face — to point toward
  14. lean — thin
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. mine — for digging
  17. cold — not warm
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. spring — a coil
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. spell — a short time
  23. spring — of water
  24. perch — for a bird

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