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. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a bank
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. branch — a division
  5. stock — a soup base
  6. tear — from crying
  7. shower — rain
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. stock — goods
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. row — a line
  14. row — to paddle
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. stock — shares
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. tear — from crying
  19. mark — a trace
  20. shower — to wash
  21. cold — an illness
  22. mark — a grade
  23. cold — not warm
  24. tear — to rip

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