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: court · squash · shower · bat · rest · land · ground · wind

  1. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. shower — to wash
  3. shower — rain
  4. bat — the animal
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. ground — the earth
  8. rest — what's left
  9. land — ground
  10. rest — a break
  11. wind — moving air
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. land — a country
  14. court — for sport
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. ground — a position
  17. land — to come down
  18. squash — the sport
  19. wind — moving air
  20. squash — to crush
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. court — of a king
  23. ground — crushed
  24. rest — what's left

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