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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. chest — a box
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. field — a subject
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. field — farmland
  8. hand — in cards
  9. spring — a coil
  10. row — to paddle
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. date — the fruit
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. hand — help
  17. row — a line
  18. chest — of your body
  19. spring — of water
  20. branch — a division
  21. mine — for digging
  22. chest — of your body
  23. spring — the season
  24. mine — an explosive

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