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 116 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'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. present — a gift
  4. kid — to tease
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. net — after costs
  11. staff — employees
  12. staff — a stick
  13. tube — a container
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. kid — child
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. net — in sport
  18. present — the time now
  19. net — for catching
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — an illness
  22. staff — employees
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. present — there

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