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: shower · bark · rule · stand · cell · bat · hand · roll

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. stand — to bear
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. roll — a cake
  5. rule — a law
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. shower — rain
  8. roll — a list
  9. bat — the animal
  10. cell — a phone
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. bark — to shout
  15. cell — in biology
  16. hand — help
  17. rule — government
  18. hand — in cards
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. shower — to wash
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. bat — in an idiom

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