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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. wind — moving air
  4. press — a publisher
  5. stock — goods
  6. press — newspapers
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. press — to push
  9. face — to point toward
  10. content — the amount
  11. cell — a phone
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. face — part of the head
  14. cell — in biology
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. field — a subject
  17. stock — shares
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — farmland
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. face — to confront
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. wind — moving air
  24. date — the fruit

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