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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  12. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. charge — a price
  3. bound — tied together
  4. game — a match
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. bound — certain
  8. file — a document
  9. bound — obliged
  10. swing — to play on
  11. charge — electricity
  12. charge — in control
  13. file — a tool
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. cold — an illness
  16. swing — in golf
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. swing — music
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. cold — not warm
  21. game — wild animals
  22. ball — a great time
  23. file — a line of people
  24. cold — the Cold War

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