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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: degree · court · chip · straw · band · squash

  1. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. degree — from a university
  3. degree — an amount
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. court — for sport
  6. squash — to crush
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. court — of a king
  10. band — a ring
  11. degree — temperature
  12. chip — to eat
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. chip — for betting
  15. band — a music group
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. court — of law

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