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: content · face · clip · land · straw · field · swing · tear

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. swing — music
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. content — happy
  5. field — farmland
  6. land — ground
  7. land — a country
  8. face — to point toward
  9. tear — from crying
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. field — a subject
  12. tear — from crying
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. swing — to play on
  16. clip — a video
  17. field — for sport
  18. tear — to rip
  19. face — part of the head
  20. face — to confront
  21. clip — for paper
  22. clip — to cut
  23. swing — in golf
  24. content — the amount

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