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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. last — final
  3. shower — to wash
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. branch — a division
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. last — finally
  9. field — farmland
  10. last — to go on
  11. court — for sport
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. shower — rain
  15. capital — a city
  16. court — of a king
  17. bat — the animal
  18. field — a subject
  19. capital — money
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. field — for sport
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. court — of law
  24. branch — of a bank

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