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. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. degree — from a university
  4. prune — to trim
  5. straw — to clutch at straws
  6. band — a music group
  7. fork — in a road
  8. march — the month
  9. prune — to trim
  10. band — a ring
  11. march — music
  12. degree — temperature
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. perch — the fish
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. degree — an amount
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. cold — not warm
  22. march — the month
  23. cold — an illness
  24. fork — a garden 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