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: chair · wound · fork · coach · fine · bat · present · cold

  1. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. bat — the animal
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. present — a gift
  8. cold — an illness
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. chair — a professorship
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. fine — high quality
  13. chair — a leader
  14. wound — an injury
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. cold — not warm
  19. fine — all right
  20. present — there
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. fork — in a road
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. present — the time now

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