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: fork · fan · cold · field · degree · craft · game · bat

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. cold — not warm
  5. fork — in a road
  6. game — a match
  7. craft — a skill
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. field — farmland
  10. field — a subject
  11. fork — to eat with
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. degree — temperature
  15. field — for sport
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. degree — an amount
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. game — wild animals
  21. craft — boats
  22. bat — the animal
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. cold — an illness

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