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 124 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 has no idea where the ________________ is.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  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. safe — a strongbox
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. chest — of your body
  4. file — a tool
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. pop — music
  7. pop — soda
  8. chest — of your body
  9. safe — out of danger
  10. game — a match
  11. net — for catching
  12. hand — in cards
  13. game — wild animals
  14. net — in sport
  15. pop — to visit
  16. net — after costs
  17. hand — help
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. file — a document
  20. chest — a box
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. safe — out of danger
  23. bat — the animal
  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