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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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 music group
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. bat — the animal
  4. chip — to eat
  5. mine — for digging
  6. band — a ring
  7. file — a document
  8. chip — for betting
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. game — wild animals
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. file — a tool
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. game — a match
  23. cold — an illness
  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