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: trunk · tear · cold · foot · degree · club · branch · hand

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  11. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. degree — temperature
  3. branch — of a tree
  4. club — for golf
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. club — for dancing
  7. tear — to rip
  8. branch — of a bank
  9. hand — in cards
  10. foot — a measure
  11. trunk — of a car
  12. club — a group
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. tear — from crying
  15. degree — an amount
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. branch — a division
  18. degree — from a university
  19. cold — an illness
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. cold — not warm
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. trunk — of a tree

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