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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 116 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 · cold · dip · clip · stock · stem · lash · field

  1. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — a stem cell
  2. clip — a video
  3. clip — to cut
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. field — for sport
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. field — a subject
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. cold — an illness
  11. clip — for paper
  12. bass — low music
  13. cold — not warm
  14. field — farmland
  15. stock — goods
  16. dip — to sink
  17. stock — shares
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. stem — to come from
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. bass — the fish

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