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: game · court · ground · wax · shower · face · cap · tear

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. face — to confront
  3. ground — crushed
  4. ground — a position
  5. game — a match
  6. shower — rain
  7. tear — from crying
  8. face — part of the head
  9. court — for sport
  10. tear — to rip
  11. wax — to grow
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. tear — from crying
  14. court — of a king
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. wax — in the ear
  17. face — to point toward
  18. wax — for sculpting
  19. cap — of ice
  20. cap — a hat
  21. court — of law
  22. ground — the earth
  23. cap — a lid
  24. game — wild animals

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