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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: bass · field · race · nail · stem · kid · file · tube

  1. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. field — farmland
  3. field — for sport
  4. tube — a container
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. bass — low music
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. race — humankind
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. file — a tool
  12. field — a subject
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. file — a document
  17. race — the arms race
  18. kid — to tease
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. stem — to come from
  21. bass — the fish
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. race — a contest
  24. file — a line of people

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