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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cold · mate · field · net · mine · scale

  1. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. field — for sport
  4. mate — a friend
  5. scale — size or range
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. field — a subject
  8. mate — a partner
  9. cold — an illness
  10. mate — to breed
  11. net — for catching
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. cold — not warm
  14. mine — for digging
  15. net — after costs
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. field — farmland
  18. scale — in music

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