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 120 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 · chest · race · prune · snap · rule

  1. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. snap — to click
  3. rule — a law
  4. chest — of your body
  5. prune — to trim
  6. degree — an amount
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. race — a contest
  11. prune — to trim
  12. degree — temperature
  13. race — the arms race
  14. race — humankind
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. chest — of your body
  17. chest — a box
  18. degree — from a university

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