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. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. game — a match
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. capital — a city
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. degree — from a university
  7. drill — the tool
  8. drill — a practice
  9. branch — a division
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. game — wild animals
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. file — a document
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. roll — a cake
  16. drill — army training
  17. file — a tool
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. capital — money
  21. file — a line of people
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. degree — temperature
  24. degree — an amount

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