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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Have you found your soul ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. chest — of your body
  3. kid — child
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. deal — to handle
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bowl — to roll
  8. mate — a friend
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. kid — to tease
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. chest — a box
  13. mate — to breed
  14. chest — of your body
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. file — a tool
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. bowl — a dish
  19. file — a line of people
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. file — a document
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. cold — an illness
  24. mate — a partner

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