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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  22. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. spell — a short time
  4. field — for sport
  5. last — final
  6. charge — a price
  7. clip — a video
  8. squash — the sport
  9. perch — the fish
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — an illness
  12. field — farmland
  13. cold — not warm
  14. last — finally
  15. clip — for paper
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. squash — to crush
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. clip — to cut
  20. spell — letters
  21. charge — electricity
  22. charge — in control
  23. spell — magic
  24. field — a subject

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