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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. The King held a masked ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. ball — a dance
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. craft — a skill
  6. degree — an amount
  7. wound — an injury
  8. cold — an illness
  9. craft — a handicraft
  10. degree — temperature
  11. cold — not warm
  12. snap — to click
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. ball — a round shape
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. craft — boats
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. ball — a great time
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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