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 · mine · shower · calf · coach · key · chair · cold

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  4. This piece is in a major ________________.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. chair — a leader
  3. key — the most important part
  4. key — in music
  5. key — for a lock
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. cold — not warm
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. coach — pulled by horses
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. shower — rain
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. mine — for digging
  20. calf — of the leg
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. shower — to wash

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