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: clip · pit · pitcher · field · chip · drill · mine · cell

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. pit — in a race
  3. mine — for digging
  4. field — for sport
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. cell — a phone
  8. drill — army training
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. clip — a video
  11. drill — a practice
  12. field — farmland
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. chip — for betting
  15. pit — a hole
  16. field — a subject
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. drill — the tool
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. clip — for paper
  22. chip — to eat
  23. clip — to cut
  24. cell — in biology

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