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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: content · file · wind · cap · court · plane · cold · track

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. wind — moving air
  3. court — for sport
  4. track — to keep track
  5. cold — not warm
  6. track — a song
  7. court — of a king
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. content — the amount
  10. cap — a hat
  11. content — happy
  12. cap — of ice
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cap — a lid
  16. file — a document
  17. court — of law
  18. plane — a tool
  19. wind — moving air
  20. file — a line of people
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. file — a tool

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