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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He is an ace ________________.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. tear — from crying
  3. field — for sport
  4. field — a subject
  5. capital — money
  6. mate — a friend
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pitcher — in baseball
  9. mate — to breed
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mate — a partner
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. bound — certain
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. capital — a city
  19. bound — obliged
  20. tear — to rip
  21. bound — tied together
  22. tear — from crying
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. pitcher — a jug

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