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 120 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: degree · stock · face · pitcher · cold · ball · chest · leaves

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. ball — a dance
  3. face — to point toward
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. chest — of your body
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. cold — an illness
  9. stock — shares
  10. face — part of the head
  11. chest — of your body
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. degree — from a university
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. ball — a great time
  16. stock — goods
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. face — to confront
  19. leaves — to go away
  20. cold — not warm
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. chest — a box
  23. degree — temperature
  24. degree — an amount

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