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: pit · wax · wave · cap · band · cold · chest · degree

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. 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. degree — an amount
  2. band — a music group
  3. cap — a lid
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. wax — in the ear
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. degree — temperature
  10. wax — to grow
  11. cap — of ice
  12. cap — a hat
  13. pit — in a race
  14. band — a ring
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. pit — a hole
  23. chest — a box
  24. 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