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. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. pass — a permit
  5. cold — an illness
  6. face — to point toward
  7. bound — certain
  8. land — ground
  9. land — to come down
  10. cold — not warm
  11. bound — tied together
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. face — part of the head
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. land — a country
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. march — the month
  18. cell — a phone
  19. cell — in biology
  20. march — music
  21. face — to confront
  22. mine — for digging
  23. bound — obliged
  24. mine — an explosive

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