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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. face — part of the head
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. capital — money
  5. face — to confront
  6. spring — the season
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. stem — to come from
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. root — of a word
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. stock — goods
  14. shower — rain
  15. stock — shares
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. shower — to wash
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — a coil
  20. face — to point toward
  21. capital — a city
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. root — of a plant
  24. root — the cause

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