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: field · fall · season · cold · swing · lie · race · spring

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. lie — to recline
  3. season — in sport
  4. race — the arms race
  5. season — of the year
  6. swing — music
  7. fall — the season
  8. spring — of water
  9. field — for sport
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. spring — the season
  12. swing — to play on
  13. field — a subject
  14. fall — to drop
  15. fall — to drop
  16. race — humankind
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. cold — not warm
  19. swing — in golf
  20. spring — a coil
  21. cold — an illness
  22. race — a contest
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. cold — the Cold War

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