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. Did you ________________ the button?
  2. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  21. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  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. press — to push
  2. wax — in the ear
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. degree — from a university
  6. press — newspapers
  7. rule — government
  8. fine — all right
  9. degree — temperature
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — not warm
  12. spring — a coil
  13. degree — an amount
  14. bass — low music
  15. fine — high quality
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. rule — a law
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. bass — the fish
  21. press — a publisher
  22. wax — to grow
  23. spring — the season
  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