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: ball · saw · chest · kid · ground · plane · cold · mark

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. chest — of your body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. mark — a trace
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. cold — not warm
  8. cold — an illness
  9. ball — a great time
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. chest — a box
  12. mark — a grade
  13. ground — crushed
  14. ground — the earth
  15. kid — child
  16. ball — a dance
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. ground — a position
  20. saw — the tool
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. plane — a tool
  23. ball — a round shape
  24. saw — the tool

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