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. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a song
  2. track — a path
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. press — to push
  5. chair — a leader
  6. tear — to rip
  7. track — to keep track
  8. wound — an injury
  9. ground — crushed
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. cold — an illness
  12. game — a match
  13. ground — the earth
  14. cold — not warm
  15. press — newspapers
  16. game — wild animals
  17. chair — a professorship
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — from crying
  20. press — a publisher
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. ground — a position
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. wound — an injury

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