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 120 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 got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. kid — to tease
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. mouse — the animal
  5. field — a subject
  6. bass — the fish
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. field — farmland
  9. bass — low music
  10. field — for sport
  11. hand — help
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. capital — money
  14. wound — an injury
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. kid — child
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. wound — past of 'wind'
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. wound — an injury
  24. capital — a city

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