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: rash · tube · bowl · spring · cold · clip · file · stock

  1. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. I'll be taking the ________________.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — a soup base
  2. clip — for paper
  3. bowl — to roll
  4. clip — to cut
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. stock — shares
  7. file — a tool
  8. spring — the season
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. tube — the underground
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. cold — not warm
  13. spring — of water
  14. file — a line of people
  15. tube — a container
  16. bowl — a football final
  17. stock — goods
  18. cold — an illness
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. rash — hasty
  21. rash — a series
  22. spring — a coil
  23. clip — a video
  24. file — a document

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