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. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. wind — moving air
  3. rush — hurry
  4. field — a subject
  5. hand — help
  6. file — a tool
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. content — the amount
  9. file — a line of people
  10. wind — moving air
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. straw — to clutch at straws
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. field — farmland
  16. content — happy
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. hand — in cards
  19. file — a document
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. wind — to turn a key

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