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. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  11. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  12. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. key — the most important part
  3. key — for a lock
  4. plane — a tool
  5. foot — a measure
  6. key — in music
  7. degree — an amount
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. cold — not warm
  10. foot — part of the body
  11. field — for sport
  12. vault — in gymnastics
  13. field — a subject
  14. plane — in geometry
  15. rash — hasty
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. rash — a series
  19. vault — a safe
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. cold — an illness
  22. vault — an arched ceiling
  23. degree — from a university
  24. degree — temperature

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