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. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. It's one o'clock ________________.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. My father caught me by the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. sharp — exactly
  3. rash — hasty
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. wound — an injury
  6. file — a tool
  7. court — for sport
  8. bark — to shout
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. wound — an injury
  12. file — a document
  13. chest — of your body
  14. rash — a series
  15. sharp — clever
  16. chest — of your body
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. court — of law
  19. file — a line of people
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. chest — a box
  24. arm — part of the body

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