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: shower · ground · stand · tear · bulb · sharp · band · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. ground — crushed
  3. bulb — for light
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. band — a ring
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. shower — to wash
  8. tear — from crying
  9. ground — the earth
  10. tear — from crying
  11. degree — from a university
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. stand — for spectators
  14. band — a music group
  15. tear — to rip
  16. shower — rain
  17. sharp — clever
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. ground — a position
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bulb — for light
  23. degree — temperature
  24. stand — to bear

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