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 116 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 · snap · shower · hand · mark · cold · ground · root

  1. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. cold — not warm
  3. ground — crushed
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. ground — the earth
  8. hand — help
  9. shower — rain
  10. root — of a word
  11. mark — a grade
  12. shower — to wash
  13. root — the cause
  14. ground — a position
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. snap — to click
  17. mark — a trace
  18. root — of a plant
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bat — the animal
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. hand — part of the body

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