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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. field — a subject
  3. game — a match
  4. club — a group
  5. present — a gift
  6. present — there
  7. game — wild animals
  8. club — for golf
  9. bat — the animal
  10. prune — to trim
  11. prune — to trim
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. wound — an injury
  17. field — for sport
  18. field — farmland
  19. cold — not warm
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. present — the time now
  23. wound — an injury
  24. club — for dancing

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