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: hand · band · tear · ground · mine · wound · patient · chest

  1. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. band — a music group
  4. hand — help
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. tear — from crying
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. band — a ring
  9. mine — for digging
  10. chest — of your body
  11. ground — crushed
  12. chest — of your body
  13. wound — an injury
  14. ground — a position
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. hand — in cards
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. tear — to rip
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. tear — from crying
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. chest — a box
  24. wound — an injury

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