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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. wind — moving air
  3. spring — of water
  4. mug — to rob
  5. file — a document
  6. stock — shares
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. stock — goods
  12. tear — from crying
  13. clip — a video
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — to rip
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — a coil
  18. file — a tool
  19. file — a line of people
  20. clip — for paper
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. wind — moving air
  23. mug — a cup
  24. clip — to cut

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