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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. spring — a coil
  3. trunk — of an elephant
  4. spring — the season
  5. kid — child
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. pitch — completely
  8. degree — from a university
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. degree — temperature
  11. fall — to drop
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. saw — past of 'see'
  14. fall — to drop
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. fall — the season
  17. kid — to tease
  18. wound — an injury
  19. pitch — a sales talk
  20. wound — an injury
  21. degree — an amount
  22. saw — the tool
  23. pitch — a sports field
  24. spring — of water

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