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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 116 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.

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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
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Word bank
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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: field · mine · current · stem · kid · wax · race · bat

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. race — humankind
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. field — for sport
  5. field — a subject
  6. wax — to grow
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. stem — to come from
  10. wax — for sculpting
  11. bat — the animal
  12. mine — for digging
  13. current — electric
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. race — the arms race
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. current — happening now
  19. current — of water
  20. kid — to tease
  21. field — farmland
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. kid — child

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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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