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. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. What do you think of the new ________________?
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. squash — to crush
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. mine — for digging
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. squash — the sport
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. bat — the animal
  15. track — to keep track
  16. snap — to click
  17. wind — moving air
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. wound — an injury
  23. track — a path
  24. track — a song

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