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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. Have you met the new head ________________?
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. bass — the fish
  5. branch — of a tree
  6. branch — a division
  7. chest — of your body
  8. wound — an injury
  9. snap — to click
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. spring — the season
  12. chest — of your body
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. spring — a coil
  19. bass — low music
  20. field — farmland
  21. chest — a box
  22. spring — of water
  23. field — a subject
  24. wound — an injury

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