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. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — in a computer
  2. cold — an illness
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. clip — a video
  5. tube — a container
  6. bat — the animal
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. pass — a permit
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — help
  14. chip — to eat
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. tube — the underground
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. chip — for betting
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bat — in an idiom

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