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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. season — of the year
  3. wound — an injury
  4. field — for sport
  5. clip — for paper
  6. clip — to cut
  7. field — farmland
  8. swing — in golf
  9. stock — shares
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. cold — an illness
  12. wound — an injury
  13. cold — not warm
  14. field — a subject
  15. present — the time now
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. season — in sport
  18. present — a gift
  19. swing — to play on
  20. present — there
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. clip — a video
  23. swing — music
  24. stock — goods

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