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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: kid · clip · bore · spring · bass · dip · field · stock

  1. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. spring — the season
  3. spring — of water
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. dip — to sink
  6. field — farmland
  7. bass — the fish
  8. spring — a coil
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. clip — for paper
  11. bore — to drill
  12. field — for sport
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. stock — goods
  16. bore — to tire
  17. stock — shares
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. field — a subject
  21. clip — a video
  22. clip — to cut
  23. bass — low music
  24. kid — to tease

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