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: wave · squash · mine · mate · cold · press · perch · straw

  1. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  22. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. squash — the sport
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. perch — for a bird
  5. press — to push
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. mine — for digging
  8. mate — a partner
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. cold — not warm
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. press — a publisher
  17. cold — an illness
  18. mate — a friend
  19. mate — to breed
  20. squash — to crush
  21. wave — a sudden rise
  22. press — newspapers
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. mine — an explosive

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