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: ball · content · degree · snap · race · rule

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. ball — a great time
  3. degree — from a university
  4. degree — temperature
  5. snap — to click
  6. rule — a law
  7. race — humankind
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. degree — an amount
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. ball — a dance
  12. race — a contest
  13. race — the arms race
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. content — the amount
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. rule — government
  18. snap — to speak sharply

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