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 116 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: saw · bowl · bass · hand · prune · march · degree · content

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. degree — an amount
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. bass — the fish
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. prune — to trim
  11. hand — in cards
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. march — music
  14. degree — from a university
  15. hand — help
  16. content — the amount
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. saw — the tool
  19. degree — temperature
  20. march — the month
  21. prune — to trim
  22. march — the month
  23. bass — low music
  24. saw — the tool

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