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 looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. capital — a city
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. march — the month
  5. wound — an injury
  6. cold — an illness
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. capital — money
  11. season — in sport
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. cold — not warm
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. row — a line
  16. season — of the year
  17. stem — to come from
  18. march — the month
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. row — to paddle
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. march — music
  24. stem — a stem cell

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