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: march · shower · game · swing · land · bark · spring · track

  1. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. track — to keep track
  3. track — a path
  4. track — a song
  5. swing — music
  6. march — music
  7. land — to come down
  8. land — a country
  9. game — a match
  10. spring — the season
  11. march — the month
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. swing — in golf
  14. game — wild animals
  15. shower — rain
  16. spring — of water
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. march — the month
  19. swing — to play on
  20. spring — a coil
  21. bark — to shout
  22. shower — to wash
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. land — ground

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