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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. clip — for paper
  3. field — a subject
  4. field — farmland
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. face — to point toward
  7. wake — a trail
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. face — to confront
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. clip — a video
  15. field — for sport
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. nail — on a finger
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. clip — to cut
  20. scale — size or range
  21. cold — not warm
  22. face — part of the head
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. scale — in music

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