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: game · net · cold · bark · band · march · scale · file

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. march — music
  3. march — the month
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. band — a ring
  6. net — for catching
  7. file — a line of people
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. game — a match
  10. scale — in music
  11. net — after costs
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. net — in sport
  16. game — wild animals
  17. band — a music group
  18. scale — size or range
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. file — a tool
  21. bark — to shout
  22. file — a document
  23. cold — not warm
  24. march — the month

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