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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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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: file · stem · club · mine · snap · pop · race · kid

  1. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. club — a group
  2. pop — soda
  3. pop — music
  4. race — the arms race
  5. mine — for digging
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. kid — to tease
  10. club — for golf
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. file — a document
  14. race — humankind
  15. pop — to visit
  16. club — for dancing
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. file — a line of people
  19. stem — to come from
  20. kid — child
  21. file — a tool
  22. snap — to click
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. race — a contest

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