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. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. shower — to wash
  3. key — the most important part
  4. field — farmland
  5. spell — a short time
  6. field — a subject
  7. cold — an illness
  8. spell — letters
  9. shower — rain
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. field — for sport
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. spell — magic
  16. cold — not warm
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. rush — hurry
  21. scale — in music
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. key — in music
  24. scale — size or range

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