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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  12. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. content — happy
  3. degree — an amount
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. craft — a skill
  6. prune — to trim
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. kid — child
  9. craft — boats
  10. degree — temperature
  11. branch — of a bank
  12. craft — a handicraft
  13. kid — to tease
  14. calf — of the leg
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. drill — the tool
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. calf — a young animal
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. branch — a division
  21. drill — army training
  22. prune — to trim
  23. content — the amount
  24. drill — a practice

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