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 120 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: arm · cell · degree · cold · patient · cue · pitcher · mine

  1. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. My father caught me by the ________________.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. cue — a hint
  6. mine — for digging
  7. degree — temperature
  8. cue — for pool
  9. cell — in biology
  10. degree — from a university
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. cold — not warm
  16. patient — calm and waiting
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. cue — a signal
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cell — a phone
  24. patient — a sick person

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