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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. I've got the luggage in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. bark — to shout
  3. prune — to trim
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. cold — an illness
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. bat — the animal
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. deal — a big deal
  10. prune — to trim
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. ground — crushed
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — not warm
  15. ground — the earth
  16. season — of the year
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bark — of a tree
  19. deal — to handle
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. season — in sport
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. trunk — of a car

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