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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. spring — of water
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. mine — for digging
  6. spring — the season
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wound — an injury
  9. shower — rain
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. degree — temperature
  12. fork — in a road
  13. degree — from a university
  14. file — a tool
  15. net — for catching
  16. shower — to wash
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. file — a line of people
  19. net — after costs
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. file — a document
  22. degree — an amount
  23. spring — a coil
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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