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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. last — to go on
  4. snap — to click
  5. last — finally
  6. file — a tool
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. drill — army training
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. file — a document
  11. drill — the tool
  12. land — to come down
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. file — a line of people
  17. drill — a practice
  18. row — a line
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. last — final
  22. row — to paddle
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. land — a country

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