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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. degree — from a university
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. file — a document
  5. capital — money
  6. pitch — a sales talk
  7. field — for sport
  8. rash — a series
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. degree — an amount
  11. rash — hasty
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. file — a line of people
  14. field — a subject
  15. degree — temperature
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. pitch — completely
  18. kick — in football
  19. deal — to handle
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. capital — a city
  22. field — farmland
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. rash — on the skin

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