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: straw · scale · mate · row · fall · field · chair · snap

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. mate — a partner
  3. field — farmland
  4. fall — to drop
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. snap — to click
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. fall — the season
  11. field — for sport
  12. mate — to breed
  13. scale — in music
  14. mate — a friend
  15. fall — to drop
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. row — a line
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. field — a subject
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. row — to paddle
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. scale — size or range

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