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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. ground — crushed
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — an amount
  5. shower — rain
  6. wound — an injury
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. ground — a position
  9. coach — pulled by horses
  10. court — for sport
  11. shower — to wash
  12. degree — temperature
  13. hand — in cards
  14. court — of law
  15. wound — an injury
  16. ground — the earth
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. court — of a king
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. spell — a short time
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. spell — magic
  24. hand — help

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