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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. clip — for paper
  3. game — wild animals
  4. field — a subject
  5. field — for sport
  6. bass — low music
  7. race — the arms race
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. game — a match
  11. cell — in biology
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. bass — the fish
  14. clip — a video
  15. march — the month
  16. race — a contest
  17. clip — to cut
  18. snap — to click
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. race — humankind
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. field — farmland
  23. march — music
  24. march — the month

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