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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. file — a tool
  3. field — for sport
  4. rule — government
  5. object — to protest
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. trunk — of an elephant
  8. file — a document
  9. field — farmland
  10. object — a thing
  11. court — of law
  12. object — an aim
  13. file — a line of people
  14. rule — a law
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. foot — a measure
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. field — a subject
  20. foot — part of the body
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. game — a match
  23. court — of a king
  24. game — wild animals

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