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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. kid — child
  3. spring — the season
  4. bear — the animal
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. spring — a coil
  9. capital — a city
  10. chair — a leader
  11. kid — to tease
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. capital — money
  14. spring — of water
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. ball — a dance
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. field — farmland
  20. field — for sport
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. bear — the animal
  23. field — a subject
  24. date — the fruit

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