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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 · clip · content · pit · stock · track · court · drill

  1. The ball is in your ________________.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. net — in sport
  3. stock — goods
  4. drill — army training
  5. drill — a practice
  6. clip — a video
  7. content — happy
  8. clip — to cut
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. clip — for paper
  11. content — the amount
  12. drill — the tool
  13. net — for catching
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. net — after costs
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. pit — a hole
  18. pit — in a race
  19. track — a song
  20. track — to keep track
  21. track — a path
  22. stock — shares
  23. court — of a king
  24. court — of law

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