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: cold · race · mark · capital · fall · pitch

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. mark — a trace
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. race — the arms race
  7. cold — an illness
  8. capital — a city
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. mark — a grade
  11. race — a contest
  12. cold — not warm
  13. pitch — completely
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. race — humankind
  16. capital — money
  17. fall — to drop
  18. fall — the season

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