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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: mine · stem · file · chest · bass · club · kid · field

  1. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  2. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  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. bass — the instrument
  2. field — farmland
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. club — for dancing
  6. mine — for digging
  7. stem — to come from
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. bass — low music
  10. field — for sport
  11. club — for golf
  12. field — a subject
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. chest — a box
  15. kid — child
  16. file — a document
  17. chest — of your body
  18. kid — to tease
  19. file — a tool
  20. file — a line of people
  21. chest — of your body
  22. club — a group
  23. bass — the fish
  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