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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. field — farmland
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. band — a ring
  5. bat — the animal
  6. field — a subject
  7. band — a music group
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. field — for sport
  10. land — ground
  11. tube — the underground
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. squash — the sport
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. tube — a container
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. fan — to cool the air
  21. land — to come down
  22. land — a country
  23. squash — to crush
  24. bat — in an idiom

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