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 116 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. pound — a weight
  4. press — a publisher
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. mark — a grade
  7. degree — an amount
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. kid — child
  10. stem — to come from
  11. degree — temperature
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — not warm
  15. degree — from a university
  16. press — newspapers
  17. scale — size or range
  18. scale — in music
  19. mark — a trace
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. press — to push
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. stem — of a plant

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