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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. cell — a phone
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. scale — size or range
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. ball — a dance
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. clip — to cut
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. scale — in music
  12. file — a document
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. shower — rain
  15. file — a tool
  16. clip — a video
  17. sharp — clever
  18. cell — in biology
  19. clip — for paper
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. file — a line of people
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. ball — a great time

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