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: branch · chair · mouse · fan · ball · race · bat · degree

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. race — humankind
  4. ball — a great time
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. degree — an amount
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. degree — from a university
  9. ball — a dance
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. degree — temperature
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. race — a contest
  15. chair — to sit on
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. mouse — the animal
  18. race — the arms race
  19. branch — a division
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. bat — the animal
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. bat — for baseball

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