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 116 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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. land — a country
  4. stock — shares
  5. game — wild animals
  6. field — farmland
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. land — ground
  9. stock — goods
  10. degree — from a university
  11. file — a tool
  12. swing — to play on
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. file — a document
  15. field — for sport
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. swing — music
  18. field — a subject
  19. file — a line of people
  20. degree — temperature
  21. land — to come down
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. degree — an amount
  24. swing — in golf

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