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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Beijing is the ________________ of China.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. prune — to trim
  4. file — a tool
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. can — a tin
  8. can — a tin
  9. field — farmland
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. file — a document
  12. wax — to grow
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. field — a subject
  16. field — for sport
  17. can — to be able to
  18. degree — an amount
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. degree — temperature
  21. file — a line of people
  22. capital — money
  23. degree — from a university
  24. capital — a city

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