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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  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. bark — to shout
  2. band — a ring
  3. net — after costs
  4. race — the arms race
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. net — in sport
  9. file — a tool
  10. race — humankind
  11. race — a contest
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — an illness
  14. wound — an injury
  15. net — for catching
  16. bark — a dog's sound
  17. band — a music group
  18. file — a document
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. wound — an injury
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. band — a rubber band
  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