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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. file — a document
  3. spring — a coil
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. court — for sport
  6. kid — child
  7. lean — to bend
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. court — of a king
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. cold — not warm
  12. band — a ring
  13. kid — to tease
  14. court — of law
  15. file — a tool
  16. spring — of water
  17. tear — to rip
  18. spring — the season
  19. lean — thin
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — from crying
  22. cold — an illness
  23. band — a music group
  24. file — a line of people

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