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: temple · bat · kid · club · date · cold · mine · lean

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  21. Have you settled on a ________________?
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. When was this ________________ built?
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. lean — thin
  4. bat — the animal
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — an illness
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. club — for dancing
  9. club — for golf
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. club — a group
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. lean — to bend
  15. date — the fruit
  16. mine — for digging
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. kid — to tease
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. temple — a place of worship
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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