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 120 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: cold · tear · plane · field · wake · straw · arm · squash

  1. My father caught me by the ________________.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. field — a subject
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. field — farmland
  5. tear — to rip
  6. cold — not warm
  7. squash — to crush
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. plane — a tool
  10. tear — from crying
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. wake — a trail
  15. field — for sport
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. cold — an illness
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. tear — from crying
  24. squash — the sport

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