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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. court — of a king
  3. staff — employees
  4. race — a contest
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. staff — a stick
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. mine — for digging
  10. clip — a video
  11. court — of law
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. staff — employees
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. bark — to shout
  16. race — the arms race
  17. clip — to cut
  18. plane — a tool
  19. degree — from a university
  20. clip — for paper
  21. race — humankind
  22. degree — temperature
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. court — for sport

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