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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The ________________ went through the wall.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. band — a ring
  4. date — the fruit
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. file — a tool
  9. game — wild animals
  10. band — a music group
  11. row — a line
  12. capital — a city
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. chip — for betting
  16. row — to paddle
  17. file — a line of people
  18. capital — money
  19. chip — to eat
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. file — a document
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. chip — in a computer
  24. game — a match

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