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

Word bank: straw · mate · capital · field · tear · cold

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. mate — a friend
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. mate — to breed
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. capital — a city
  8. cold — an illness
  9. field — a subject
  10. tear — to rip
  11. field — for sport
  12. mate — a partner
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. capital — money
  15. cold — not warm
  16. field — farmland
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. tear — from crying

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