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: firm · shower · staff · cold · bay · spring · capital · kid

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  3. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  9. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  10. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  11. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. firm — decided
  3. bay — a part of the sea
  4. staff — a stick
  5. capital — a city
  6. kid — child
  7. shower — to wash
  8. firm — steady
  9. staff — employees
  10. firm — a company
  11. bay — to keep at bay
  12. spring — a coil
  13. staff — employees
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. cold — not warm
  18. shower — rain
  19. spring — of water
  20. capital — money
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. spring — the season
  23. kid — to tease
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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