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: court · band · wave · straw · cell · wax · hand · branch

  1. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The moon will ________________ and wane.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. band — a ring
  4. court — of law
  5. court — for sport
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. branch — of a tree
  10. band — a music group
  11. branch — a division
  12. court — of a king
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. wave — with your hand
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. hand — in cards
  20. cell — in biology
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. wax — in the ear
  23. hand — help
  24. wax — to grow

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