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 116 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 · coach · clip · file · mate · mine · ground · game

  1. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. There's no middle ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. mate — to breed
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. file — a document
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. mate — a partner
  7. clip — for paper
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. game — a match
  11. ground — a position
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. clip — to cut
  15. file — a tool
  16. game — wild animals
  17. clip — a video
  18. ground — crushed
  19. chair — a leader
  20. chair — a professorship
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. file — a line of people
  23. mate — a friend
  24. ground — the earth

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