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 120 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: race · cold · straw · cell · wave · fall · tear · swing

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. cell — a phone
  3. swing — in golf
  4. swing — music
  5. cold — an illness
  6. swing — to play on
  7. race — a contest
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. tear — to rip
  10. race — humankind
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. fall — to drop
  13. race — the arms race
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cold — not warm
  21. tear — from crying
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. fall — the season
  24. straw — dry grass

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