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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. last — finally
  3. ball — a dance
  4. pitch — a sales talk
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. content — the amount
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. pitch — completely
  9. last — final
  10. court — for sport
  11. race — a contest
  12. court — of law
  13. last — to go on
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. perch — the fish
  17. race — the arms race
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. court — of a king
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. race — humankind
  23. ball — a great time
  24. pitcher — a jug

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