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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The King held a masked ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. field — farmland
  3. clip — for paper
  4. rest — a break
  5. cold — an illness
  6. ball — a dance
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. prune — to trim
  9. ground — the earth
  10. ground — a position
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. mouse — the animal
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. rest — what's left
  15. clip — to cut
  16. ball — a great time
  17. ground — crushed
  18. cold — not warm
  19. prune — to trim
  20. mouse — for a computer
  21. field — for sport
  22. rest — what's left
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. clip — a video

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