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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. kid — to tease
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. field — farmland
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. swing — in golf
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. field — for sport
  11. march — the month
  12. race — a contest
  13. prune — to trim
  14. march — the month
  15. march — music
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. swing — to play on
  18. swing — music
  19. kid — child
  20. race — the arms race
  21. field — a subject
  22. race — humankind
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. straw — dry grass

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