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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. degree — an amount
  3. saw — the tool
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. cold — not warm
  6. wind — moving air
  7. wind — moving air
  8. drill — a practice
  9. degree — temperature
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. drill — the tool
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. drill — army training
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. degree — from a university
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — an illness

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