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: bore · file · wax · clip · cold · pitch · net · field

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  22. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. bore — to drill
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. field — for sport
  6. net — for catching
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. net — in sport
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pitch — a sales talk
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pitch — completely
  13. cold — an illness
  14. file — a document
  15. field — a subject
  16. bore — to tire
  17. file — a line of people
  18. file — a tool
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. net — after costs
  21. wax — to grow
  22. bore — gave birth
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — a video

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