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: bat · field · chest · wax · game · bulb · capital · bark

  1. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  16. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — a city
  2. bark — to shout
  3. bat — the animal
  4. field — a subject
  5. wax — in the ear
  6. field — farmland
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. chest — of your body
  9. wax — for sculpting
  10. chest — of your body
  11. game — wild animals
  12. chest — a box
  13. wax — to grow
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. capital — money
  16. bulb — of a plant
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. bulb — for light
  21. game — a match
  22. bulb — for light
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. field — for sport

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