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 116 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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. prune — to trim
  3. present — a gift
  4. present — there
  5. pop — music
  6. drill — army training
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. court — for sport
  9. prune — to trim
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. shower — to wash
  12. pop — soda
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. court — of a king
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. drill — the tool
  17. present — the time now
  18. drill — a practice
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. cell — a phone
  21. court — of law
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. cell — in biology
  24. shower — rain

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