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: ground · branch · wind · bat · file · lie · hand · kid

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. ground — the earth
  4. hand — help
  5. file — a document
  6. branch — a division
  7. hand — in cards
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. file — a tool
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. ground — a position
  13. kid — child
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. ground — crushed
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. file — a line of people
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. kid — to tease
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. lie — to recline
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — moving air

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