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: ball · cold · chair · hand · bear · wound · face · swing

  1. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. chair — a leader
  3. swing — to play on
  4. swing — music
  5. face — to confront
  6. ball — a dance
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. hand — in cards
  10. wound — an injury
  11. cold — not warm
  12. swing — in golf
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. cold — an illness
  15. ball — a great time
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. hand — help
  21. face — part of the head
  22. face — to point toward
  23. bear — the animal
  24. bear — the animal

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