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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. content — happy
  3. field — for sport
  4. staff — a stick
  5. degree — an amount
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. mine — for digging
  9. chair — a leader
  10. field — farmland
  11. degree — temperature
  12. last — final
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. staff — employees
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. staff — employees
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. field — a subject
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. last — finally
  21. degree — from a university
  22. content — the amount
  23. patient — calm and waiting
  24. last — to go on

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