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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. He is an ace ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. The ________________ took off on time.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the button?
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. pitcher — in baseball
  3. cold — an illness
  4. field — farmland
  5. press — a publisher
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. cell — a phone
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. press — newspapers
  10. field — for sport
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. plane — an aircraft
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. press — to push
  15. spell — a short time
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. plane — a tool
  18. spell — magic
  19. perch — the fish
  20. cold — not warm
  21. spell — letters
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. cell — in biology

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