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: roll · fork · last · wind · pitcher · ground · spring · prune

  1. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. prune — to trim
  3. wind — moving air
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. prune — to trim
  8. spring — of water
  9. spring — a coil
  10. ground — crushed
  11. last — finally
  12. spring — the season
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. roll — a list
  15. ground — the earth
  16. last — to go on
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. last — final
  22. roll — a cake
  23. fork — in a road
  24. ground — a position

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