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 116 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 water is too ________________.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. hand — help
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. bat — the animal
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. stand — for spectators
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. game — a match
  17. last — finally
  18. stand — to bear
  19. deal — to handle
  20. cold — an illness
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. last — final
  23. last — to go on
  24. game — wild animals

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