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: straw · field · ground · degree · date · game · capital · hand

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. date — the fruit
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. game — wild animals
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. degree — an amount
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. hand — in cards
  9. game — a match
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. ground — a position
  13. field — for sport
  14. capital — money
  15. field — a subject
  16. degree — temperature
  17. field — farmland
  18. degree — from a university
  19. date — on the calendar
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. ground — crushed
  22. capital — a city
  23. ground — the earth
  24. hand — help

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