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. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — part of the body
  2. hand — in cards
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. bat — the animal
  9. wax — in the ear
  10. field — a subject
  11. prune — to trim
  12. wax — to grow
  13. mine — for digging
  14. prune — to trim
  15. drill — a practice
  16. drill — army training
  17. squash — to crush
  18. hand — help
  19. field — farmland
  20. squash — the sport
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. drill — the tool
  24. field — for sport

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