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: mine · bark · pitch · prune · chest · file · drill · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. file — a tool
  3. drill — the tool
  4. file — a line of people
  5. chest — of your body
  6. mine — for digging
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. chest — of your body
  9. drill — a practice
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. prune — to trim
  13. chest — a box
  14. prune — to trim
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pitch — completely
  17. pitch — a sales talk
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. bark — to shout
  20. file — a document
  21. cold — an illness
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. drill — army training

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