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: spell · degree · coach · cold · snap · track · bat · mouse

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  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. snap — to speak sharply
  2. degree — from a university
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. track — a song
  5. snap — to click
  6. bat — the animal
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. degree — temperature
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. spell — letters
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. track — a path
  15. spell — a short time
  16. coach — pulled by horses
  17. spell — magic
  18. cold — an illness
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. track — to keep track
  23. degree — an amount
  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