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 water is too ________________.
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bound — obliged
  3. cold — an illness
  4. spell — magic
  5. chest — a box
  6. field — for sport
  7. field — farmland
  8. leaves — to go away
  9. spell — a short time
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. chest — of your body
  12. chest — of your body
  13. kid — child
  14. field — a subject
  15. kid — to tease
  16. spell — letters
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. bound — certain
  20. bound — tied together
  21. scale — size or range
  22. scale — in music
  23. leaves — of a tree
  24. leaves — lets stay

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