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: court · drill · track · field · present · last · file · degree

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. drill — the tool
  3. track — to keep track
  4. court — of a king
  5. file — a tool
  6. present — a gift
  7. drill — a practice
  8. degree — temperature
  9. degree — from a university
  10. file — a document
  11. track — a song
  12. court — of law
  13. court — for sport
  14. degree — an amount
  15. last — finally
  16. present — the time now
  17. track — a path
  18. last — to go on
  19. field — farmland
  20. present — there
  21. field — for sport
  22. file — a line of people
  23. field — a subject
  24. drill — army training

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