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: bat · cold · wax · spell · pitch · present · track · branch

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. spell — letters
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pitch — completely
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. present — there
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. branch — a division
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. spell — a short time
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. bat — the animal
  16. wax — to grow
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. cold — not warm
  19. track — a song
  20. track — to keep track
  21. present — the time now
  22. track — a path
  23. spell — magic
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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