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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. present — there
  3. date — the fruit
  4. file — a tool
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. branch — a division
  7. field — farmland
  8. chair — a leader
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. file — a line of people
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. present — the time now
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — for sport
  17. wind — moving air
  18. file — a document
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. wind — moving air
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. present — a gift
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. date — on the calendar

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