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: swing · mine · pit · band · snap · content · land · chair

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. swing — in golf
  4. band — a ring
  5. mine — for digging
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. land — to come down
  8. swing — music
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. swing — to play on
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. snap — to click
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. pit — a hole
  18. land — ground
  19. chair — a leader
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. land — a country
  22. band — a music group
  23. content — the amount
  24. pit — in a race

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