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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: pop · stem · current · mine · straw · field · band · bear

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. stem — to come from
  3. current — of water
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. mine — for digging
  6. bear — the animal
  7. band — a music group
  8. field — farmland
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. pop — to visit
  13. bear — the animal
  14. band — a ring
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. field — a subject
  17. pop — music
  18. pop — soda
  19. field — for sport
  20. current — electric
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. current — happening now
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. stem — of a plant

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