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: file · drill · prune · spring · shower · present · rule · chest

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. present — a gift
  3. prune — to trim
  4. present — there
  5. chest — a box
  6. prune — to trim
  7. rule — a law
  8. drill — the tool
  9. drill — a practice
  10. spring — the season
  11. spring — of water
  12. chest — of your body
  13. drill — army training
  14. shower — rain
  15. present — the time now
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. shower — to wash
  18. chest — of your body
  19. file — a document
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. file — a tool
  22. spring — a coil
  23. file — a line of people
  24. prune — the fruit

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