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. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. charge — electricity
  2. field — farmland
  3. field — a subject
  4. root — of a plant
  5. present — there
  6. charge — a price
  7. root — of a word
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. file — a line of people
  10. root — the cause
  11. content — happy
  12. cold — an illness
  13. field — for sport
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a tool
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. cell — in biology
  19. present — the time now
  20. present — a gift
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cell — a phone
  23. content — the amount
  24. charge — in control

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