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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 116 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: court · drill · field · clip · land · net · snap · stock

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The ________________ market has crashed.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. net — after costs
  3. drill — army training
  4. drill — the tool
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. court — of law
  7. net — for catching
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. snap — to click
  10. field — for sport
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. net — in sport
  13. clip — for paper
  14. land — a country
  15. stock — shares
  16. clip — a video
  17. stock — goods
  18. field — farmland
  19. field — a subject
  20. land — ground
  21. court — for sport
  22. court — of a king
  23. clip — to cut
  24. drill — a practice

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