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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. field — farmland
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. cell — a phone
  8. field — for sport
  9. cell — in biology
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. clip — a video
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. kid — child
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. kid — to tease
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. mine — for digging
  18. pit — in a race
  19. pit — a hole
  20. pit — a fruit stone
  21. foot — a measure
  22. field — a subject
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — for paper

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