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 120 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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  15. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. degree — an amount
  3. court — of law
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. court — of a king
  8. wind — moving air
  9. plane — a tool
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. shower — to wash
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. straw — a straw man
  15. straw — to clutch at straws
  16. degree — from a university
  17. wind — moving air
  18. court — for sport
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. shower — rain
  21. spring — of water
  22. degree — temperature
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. spring — a coil

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