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: cold · vault · bark · cell · degree · bass · saw · fan

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  20. She's very handy with a ________________.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. bass — the fish
  3. cell — in biology
  4. cell — a phone
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. degree — an amount
  8. bark — to shout
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. vault — a safe
  16. degree — temperature
  17. cold — not warm
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. vault — an arched ceiling
  20. saw — the tool
  21. saw — the tool
  22. bass — low music
  23. degree — from a university
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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