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. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. prune — to trim
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. tube — a container
  5. tube — the underground
  6. clip — a video
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. clip — to cut
  11. file — a document
  12. prune — to trim
  13. file — a line of people
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. file — a tool
  16. clip — for paper
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. court — of a king
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. court — of law
  24. coach — a trainer

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