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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 120 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
468
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: land · leaves · arm · bat · stock · court · clip · rest

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. The ball is in your ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. land — to come down
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. land — a country
  5. stock — goods
  6. rest — a break
  7. bat — the animal
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. rest — what's left
  10. clip — to cut
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. clip — a video
  17. court — of law
  18. land — ground
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. stock — shares
  22. court — of a king
  23. rest — what's left
  24. court — for sport

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