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

Word bank: file · degree · hand · spell · capital · object

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. object — an aim
  3. spell — a short time
  4. file — a tool
  5. degree — from a university
  6. hand — in cards
  7. file — a document
  8. object — a thing
  9. capital — money
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. object — to protest
  12. capital — a city
  13. hand — help
  14. degree — an amount
  15. spell — magic
  16. degree — temperature
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. file — a line of people

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