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: bat · cold · tube · toast · trunk · degree · wake · drill

  1. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  11. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. cold — not warm
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. cold — an illness
  7. degree — from a university
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. wake — a trail
  10. toast — bread
  11. wake — before a funeral
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. drill — army training
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. tube — a container
  16. degree — temperature
  17. tube — the underground
  18. degree — an amount
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. toast — a drink to someone
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. drill — a practice
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — in an idiom

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