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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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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: stem · field · mate · race · club · jam · kid · stand

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Would you like some apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. kid — to tease
  3. stem — to come from
  4. club — for dancing
  5. race — a contest
  6. mate — to breed
  7. stand — to bear
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. field — for sport
  10. race — the arms race
  11. jam — a tight spot
  12. field — farmland
  13. field — a subject
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. club — a group
  16. jam — in traffic
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. mate — a friend
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. kid — child
  21. race — humankind
  22. mate — a partner
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. jam — to spread on bread

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