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: cold · hand · bowl · game · prune · spring · saw · mug

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Where did you ________________ them?
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. hand — in cards
  3. mug — to rob
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. game — a match
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. mug — a face
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. prune — to trim
  13. game — wild animals
  14. saw — the tool
  15. spring — the season
  16. saw — the tool
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. spring — a coil
  19. spring — of water
  20. prune — to trim
  21. cold — not warm
  22. mug — a cup
  23. hand — help
  24. prune — the fruit

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