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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: leaves · rule · club · land · stock · cold · arm · clip

  1. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. My father caught me by the ________________.
  10. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. cold — not warm
  3. land — to come down
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. rule — government
  6. clip — for paper
  7. stock — goods
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. leaves — of a tree
  11. clip — a video
  12. club — a group
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. stock — shares
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. clip — to cut
  21. land — ground
  22. rule — a law
  23. land — a country
  24. club — for golf

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