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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. scale — in music
  4. wake — a trail
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. game — a match
  7. net — for catching
  8. bowl — a football final
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. cold — an illness
  12. game — wild animals
  13. mine — for digging
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. net — after costs
  16. pass — a permit
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. scale — size or range
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. net — in sport
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. cold — not warm

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