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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: snap · game · field · land · net · bay · foot · bat

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. My mare is ________________ in color.
  4. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  9. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. bay — a horse colour
  4. net — in sport
  5. field — a subject
  6. game — a match
  7. snap — to click
  8. bay — to keep at bay
  9. foot — part of the body
  10. land — ground
  11. land — to come down
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. foot — a measure
  14. net — for catching
  15. bat — the animal
  16. field — farmland
  17. bay — a part of the sea
  18. game — wild animals
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. land — a country
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. field — for sport
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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