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: chest · mine · ground · file · hand · mouse · last · field

  1. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. mine — for digging
  3. field — farmland
  4. ground — a position
  5. chest — of your body
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. hand — help
  8. last — final
  9. field — for sport
  10. ground — the earth
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. field — a subject
  13. mouse — for a computer
  14. last — finally
  15. chest — a box
  16. last — to go on
  17. file — a line of people
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. file — a tool
  20. file — a document
  21. hand — in cards
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. chest — of your body
  24. ground — crushed

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