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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. When was this ________________ built?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. plane — in geometry
  3. field — a subject
  4. club — for golf
  5. degree — an amount
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. mine — for digging
  8. cold — an illness
  9. file — a line of people
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. file — a tool
  12. degree — from a university
  13. club — a group
  14. club — for dancing
  15. field — farmland
  16. file — a document
  17. plane — a tool
  18. temple — side of the head
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. field — for sport
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. cold — not warm
  24. degree — temperature

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