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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. shower — to wash
  3. swing — to play on
  4. shower — rain
  5. march — music
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. spring — of water
  8. kid — child
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. fork — to eat with
  11. fork — in a road
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. spring — the season
  14. file — a tool
  15. kid — to tease
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. swing — in golf
  18. spring — a coil
  19. file — a document
  20. swing — music
  21. file — a line of people
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. march — the month
  24. kick — in football

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