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: field · march · nail · kid · content · spring · clip · plane

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. content — the amount
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. spring — of water
  5. field — farmland
  6. content — happy
  7. kid — to tease
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. spring — the season
  10. field — a subject
  11. field — for sport
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. spring — a coil
  15. march — music
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. kid — child
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. march — the month
  22. march — the month
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. plane — a tool

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