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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. degree — from a university
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. wound — an injury
  6. march — music
  7. degree — temperature
  8. last — to go on
  9. last — final
  10. rush — hurry
  11. row — a line
  12. last — finally
  13. march — the month
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. row — to paddle
  16. march — the month
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. chair — a leader
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. wound — an injury
  23. degree — an amount
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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