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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. tube — the underground
  6. field — a subject
  7. drill — the tool
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. field — for sport
  10. land — a country
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. scale — in music
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. land — to come down
  15. plane — a tool
  16. drill — army training
  17. drill — a practice
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. tube — a container
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. field — farmland
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. scale — size or range
  24. scale — for weighing

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