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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: mate · lean · rule · court · land · shower · stock · bat

  1. The ________________ market has crashed.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. stock — shares
  2. mate — to breed
  3. lean — thin
  4. rule — government
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. stock — goods
  8. land — ground
  9. court — of law
  10. bat — the animal
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. mate — a partner
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. court — for sport
  16. court — of a king
  17. mate — a friend
  18. land — a country
  19. shower — to wash
  20. lean — to bend
  21. shower — rain
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. land — to come down
  24. rule — a 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