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. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. row — to paddle
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. wind — moving air
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. field — for sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. spring — the season
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. spring — a coil
  14. wound — an injury
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. spring — of water
  19. bark — to shout
  20. wound — an injury
  21. mine — for digging
  22. wind — moving air
  23. field — a subject
  24. row — a line

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