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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. game — a match
  4. fall — the season
  5. field — a subject
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. shower — to wash
  8. sharp — clever
  9. field — farmland
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. field — for sport
  12. last — final
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. ground — a position
  15. cell — a phone
  16. shower — rain
  17. last — to go on
  18. ground — crushed
  19. fall — to drop
  20. last — finally
  21. ground — the earth
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. cell — in biology
  24. fall — to drop

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