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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 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.

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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.

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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: ball · stem · nail · staff · wound · field · spring · kid

  1. The King held a masked ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. spring — of water
  3. field — farmland
  4. spring — a coil
  5. staff — employees
  6. staff — a stick
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. field — for sport
  9. staff — employees
  10. stem — to come from
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. kid — to tease
  13. ball — a round shape
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. spring — the season
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. kid — child
  19. wound — an injury
  20. field — a subject
  21. ball — a great time
  22. wound — an injury
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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