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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: mark · stock · track · clip · court · file · bat · hide

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. court — for sport
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. clip — to cut
  7. stock — shares
  8. track — to keep track
  9. file — a document
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. court — of a king
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. file — a line of people
  14. court — of law
  15. mark — to pay attention
  16. mark — a trace
  17. bat — the animal
  18. track — a song
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. clip — for paper
  21. file — a tool
  22. stock — goods
  23. track — a path
  24. mark — a grade

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