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 · squash · file · court · scale · bear · land · saw

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. land — a country
  3. bear — the animal
  4. file — a tool
  5. saw — the tool
  6. court — of law
  7. bear — the animal
  8. file — a line of people
  9. land — to come down
  10. cold — an illness
  11. scale — in music
  12. land — ground
  13. court — for sport
  14. file — a document
  15. cold — not warm
  16. scale — size or range
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. saw — the tool
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. squash — to crush
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. court — of a king
  24. scale — for weighing

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