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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: rush · stem · season · dip · band · snap · field · roll

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. Did you ________________ the meat?
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. We're on a ________________ here.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. snap — to click
  3. season — in sport
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. roll — a cake
  6. dip — to sink
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. band — a ring
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. season — to add flavour
  12. field — a subject
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. stem — to come from
  17. season — of the year
  18. band — a music group
  19. field — farmland
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. roll — on a roll
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. roll — a list
  24. field — for sport

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