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 120 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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. fall — the season
  4. tube — the underground
  5. fall — to drop
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. bear — the animal
  8. press — to push
  9. press — newspapers
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. fall — to drop
  15. wound — an injury
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. tube — a container
  19. mine — for digging
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. cold — an illness
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. bear — the animal
  24. press — a publisher

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