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: trunk · land · pitcher · clip · date · stand · present · shower

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. I can't ________________ this cold.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. land — a country
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. shower — to wash
  5. stand — to bear
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. clip — a video
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. present — there
  11. present — the time now
  12. clip — to cut
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. clip — for paper
  16. present — a gift
  17. land — to come down
  18. land — ground
  19. date — the fruit
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. stand — for spectators
  24. shower — rain

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