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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. field — a subject
  3. mine — for digging
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. pound — for dogs
  6. field — for sport
  7. capital — a city
  8. club — for dancing
  9. row — a line
  10. field — farmland
  11. pound — a weight
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. club — for golf
  14. capital — money
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. row — to paddle
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. kid — to tease
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. club — a group
  21. kid — child
  22. clip — for paper
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — a video

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