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 116 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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. swing — in golf
  5. field — farmland
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. cold — not warm
  8. club — for golf
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. content — happy
  11. cold — an illness
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. swing — to play on
  14. fall — to drop
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. club — for dancing
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. field — for sport
  19. content — the amount
  20. swing — music
  21. fall — the season
  22. field — a subject
  23. club — a group
  24. fall — to drop

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