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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 120 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: stem · field · staff · clip · bass · kick · kid · bat

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. clip — for paper
  4. field — farmland
  5. staff — employees
  6. bass — low music
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. staff — employees
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. kick — in football
  14. clip — a video
  15. staff — a stick
  16. kid — to tease
  17. kid — child
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. field — for sport
  20. clip — to cut
  21. stem — to come from
  22. bass — the fish
  23. bat — the animal
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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