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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. face — to confront
  3. vault — an arched ceiling
  4. face — to point toward
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. spell — letters
  7. cold — not warm
  8. band — a ring
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. spell — a short time
  12. band — a music group
  13. spell — magic
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bat — the animal
  16. degree — from a university
  17. vault — in gymnastics
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. vault — a safe
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. degree — an amount
  22. face — part of the head
  23. wind — moving air
  24. degree — temperature

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