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 · stem · present · fork · bat · season · band · stock

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. season — in sport
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. present — the time now
  6. cold — an illness
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. band — a ring
  11. present — a gift
  12. fork — in a road
  13. season — of the year
  14. stock — goods
  15. bat — the animal
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. stock — shares
  18. cold — not warm
  19. stem — to come from
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. band — a music group
  22. present — there
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. stem — a stem cell

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