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. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. land — to come down
  3. fork — in a road
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. land — a country
  6. net — in sport
  7. file — a line of people
  8. land — ground
  9. capital — a city
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. capital — money
  12. shower — to wash
  13. file — a document
  14. degree — an amount
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. net — for catching
  17. degree — from a university
  18. stem — to come from
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. net — after costs
  21. shower — rain
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. file — a tool

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