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 120 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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. content — the amount
  3. mine — for digging
  4. cold — not warm
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. track — a path
  8. clip — to cut
  9. stock — goods
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — an injury
  13. content — happy
  14. track — a song
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. clip — for paper
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. clip — a video
  21. foot — a measure
  22. stock — shares
  23. track — to keep track
  24. cold — an illness

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