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: kid · press · bat · branch · field · season · deal · cold

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. field — farmland
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. season — in sport
  7. press — newspapers
  8. bat — the animal
  9. press — a publisher
  10. kid — to tease
  11. press — to push
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. branch — a division
  14. field — a subject
  15. cold — not warm
  16. deal — to handle
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. season — of the year
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. field — for sport
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. cold — an illness
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. branch — of a tree

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