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: cold · last · hand · tube · date · sharp · calf · degree

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  3. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. tube — a container
  3. calf — of the leg
  4. last — final
  5. degree — from a university
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. tube — the underground
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cold — an illness
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. hand — help
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. degree — an amount
  16. degree — temperature
  17. calf — a young animal
  18. hand — in cards
  19. last — to go on
  20. date — the fruit
  21. sharp — clever
  22. last — finally
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. tube — in a tire

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