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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: wind · clip · snap · ball · stand · net · field · coach

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Have you met the new head ________________?
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. I can't ________________ this cold.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. wind — moving air
  3. field — for sport
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. field — farmland
  6. stand — to bear
  7. net — for catching
  8. ball — a dance
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. net — in sport
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. net — after costs
  14. stand — for spectators
  15. wind — moving air
  16. clip — a video
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. ball — a great time
  20. snap — to click
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — for paper

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