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. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. shower — rain
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. game — wild animals
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. game — a match
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. shower — to wash
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. root — of a word
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. capital — money
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bear — the animal
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. root — of a plant
  19. cold — not warm
  20. pound — a weight
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. bear — the animal
  24. root — the cause

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