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 120 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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ market has crashed.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  24. We were using a ________________ as a seat.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. stock — shares
  3. land — to come down
  4. rock — to move gently
  5. stock — goods
  6. march — the month
  7. land — a country
  8. cold — not warm
  9. land — ground
  10. march — the month
  11. rock — music
  12. tear — to rip
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. bat — the animal
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. tear — from crying
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wind — moving air
  22. march — music
  23. stock — a soup base
  24. rock — a stone

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