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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: net · bore · bass · stem · rash · clip · kid · mine

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. net — in sport
  8. mine — for digging
  9. bass — the fish
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. net — after costs
  12. clip — to cut
  13. kid — child
  14. clip — for paper
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. bore — to tire
  17. clip — a video
  18. bass — low music
  19. stem — to come from
  20. net — for catching
  21. rash — a series
  22. rash — hasty
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. bore — to drill

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