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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. season — in sport
  3. board — to get on
  4. cold — not warm
  5. swing — music
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. cold — an illness
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. content — happy
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. content — the amount
  13. season — of the year
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. stem — to come from
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. swing — to play on
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. swing — in golf
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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