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. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  2. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — a part of something
  2. wound — past of 'wind'
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. stock — goods
  5. content — happy
  6. wound — an injury
  7. file — a line of people
  8. spring — of water
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. game — wild animals
  12. spring — the season
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. file — a tool
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. stem — to come from
  18. game — a match
  19. content — the amount
  20. file — a document
  21. stock — shares
  22. spring — a coil
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. wound — an injury

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