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: degree · prune · field · hand · game · capital

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. degree — an amount
  3. field — for sport
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. game — a match
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. hand — in cards
  9. prune — to trim
  10. capital — money
  11. capital — a city
  12. degree — from a university
  13. field — farmland
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. degree — temperature
  16. game — wild animals
  17. prune — to trim
  18. field — a subject

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