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 120 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: tear · object · game · clip · field · chest · kid · can

  1. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. object — to protest
  2. chest — of your body
  3. tear — to rip
  4. field — farmland
  5. chest — of your body
  6. clip — for paper
  7. object — a thing
  8. clip — a video
  9. can — to be able to
  10. can — a tin
  11. field — a subject
  12. tear — from crying
  13. field — for sport
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. chest — a box
  16. kid — to tease
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. kid — child
  19. can — a tin
  20. game — a match
  21. game — wild animals
  22. clip — to cut
  23. tear — from crying
  24. object — an aim

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