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: perch · roll · game · branch · spring · kick · coach · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. spring — of water
  5. cold — an illness
  6. spring — the season
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. branch — a division
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. roll — a cake
  14. game — a match
  15. kick — in football
  16. spring — a coil
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. game — wild animals
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. roll — a list
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. perch — the fish
  24. kick — a thrill

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