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: chair · clip · mine · wave · present · face · row · file

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. present — a gift
  3. present — the time now
  4. clip — to cut
  5. file — a tool
  6. row — a line
  7. mine — for digging
  8. chair — a leader
  9. file — a line of people
  10. face — to confront
  11. file — a document
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. clip — for paper
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. row — to paddle
  20. clip — a video
  21. face — part of the head
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. face — to point toward
  24. chair — a professorship

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