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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. field — a subject
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. spell — a short time
  5. dip — to sink
  6. field — farmland
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. snap — to click
  9. rash — hasty
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. swing — in golf
  12. swing — to play on
  13. spell — letters
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. cold — not warm
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. snap — to snap out of it
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. spell — magic
  21. stem — to come from
  22. swing — music
  23. rash — a series
  24. cold — an illness

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