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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: rash · drill · kid · squash · cold · content

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. kid — to tease
  3. drill — a practice
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. rash — a series
  6. kid — child
  7. squash — to crush
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. cold — not warm
  10. drill — army training
  11. content — happy
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. rash — hasty
  17. content — the amount
  18. drill — the tool

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