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 116 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: patient · court · club · row · field · staff · wax · clip

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. wax — for sculpting
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. court — of law
  6. club — a group
  7. row — a line
  8. clip — a video
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. court — for sport
  11. field — a subject
  12. wax — to grow
  13. row — to paddle
  14. staff — employees
  15. club — for dancing
  16. staff — employees
  17. court — of a king
  18. clip — to cut
  19. staff — a stick
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — for sport
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. clip — for paper
  24. wax — in the ear

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