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 · bat · bay · fall · kid · chest · march · date

  1. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. My mare is ________________ in color.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. march — music
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bat — the animal
  4. chest — of your body
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. kid — child
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. kid — to tease
  10. file — a tool
  11. file — a line of people
  12. chest — a box
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. fall — to drop
  16. bay — a part of the sea
  17. fall — to drop
  18. march — the month
  19. chest — of your body
  20. date — the fruit
  21. fall — the season
  22. file — a document
  23. bay — a horse colour
  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