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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. ground — the earth
  3. file — a line of people
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. file — a document
  6. ground — crushed
  7. scale — size or range
  8. clip — a video
  9. clip — to cut
  10. scale — in music
  11. pit — in a race
  12. patient — a sick person
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. hand — help
  15. file — a tool
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. clip — for paper
  19. ground — a position
  20. hand — in cards
  21. capital — money
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. capital — a city
  24. pit — a hole

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