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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. hide — animal skin
  3. root — of a word
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. net — after costs
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. net — in sport
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. net — for catching
  14. root — the cause
  15. land — to come down
  16. march — the month
  17. racket — a loud noise
  18. cold — an illness
  19. land — a country
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. march — the month
  22. root — of a plant
  23. land — ground
  24. march — music

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