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

Word bank: bark · mine · tear · rule · club · field · cold · nail

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The ________________ went through the wall.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. tear — from crying
  3. field — farmland
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. cold — not warm
  6. club — a group
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. field — for sport
  9. tear — to rip
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. tear — from crying
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bark — to shout
  15. mine — for digging
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. club — for golf
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. club — for dancing
  20. rule — a law
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. field — a subject

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