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

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. stock — goods
  3. chest — of your body
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. cold — an illness
  6. stock — shares
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. field — for sport
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. sharp — clever
  12. season — of the year
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. field — farmland
  15. date — the fruit
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wound — an injury
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. season — in sport
  20. chest — a box
  21. wound — an injury
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. chest — of your body

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