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: drill · mine · content · game · ground · clip · net · wound

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. mine — for digging
  3. game — a match
  4. drill — a practice
  5. wound — an injury
  6. clip — to cut
  7. drill — the tool
  8. ground — the earth
  9. ground — crushed
  10. clip — for paper
  11. net — for catching
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. wound — an injury
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. content — happy
  17. clip — a video
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. content — the amount
  20. ground — a position
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. game — wild animals
  23. net — in sport
  24. drill — army training

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