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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. capital — a city
  3. court — of law
  4. degree — temperature
  5. ground — the earth
  6. field — farmland
  7. capital — money
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. key — in music
  11. kid — child
  12. degree — from a university
  13. field — for sport
  14. key — the most important part
  15. ground — crushed
  16. kid — to tease
  17. degree — an amount
  18. court — of a king
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. court — for sport
  21. ground — a position
  22. fork — in a road
  23. key — for a lock
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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