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. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — calm and waiting
  2. stem — to come from
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. rest — a break
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. kid — child
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. game — wild animals
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. cell — a phone
  13. game — a match
  14. mine — for digging
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. kid — to tease
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. rest — what's left
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. cell — in biology
  24. rest — what's left

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