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: court · clip · content · lean · branch · field · stock · wound

  1. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of a king
  2. clip — a video
  3. lean — thin
  4. branch — a division
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. lean — to bend
  7. stock — shares
  8. court — for sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. clip — for paper
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. field — for sport
  14. clip — to cut
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. content — happy
  19. content — the amount
  20. field — a subject
  21. court — of law
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  24. stock — goods

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