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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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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. field — a subject
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. bore — to drill
  5. bore — to tire
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. march — music
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. tear — to rip
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. last — to go on
  12. wake — a trail
  13. tear — from crying
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. last — final
  16. pass — a permit
  17. tear — from crying
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. field — farmland
  21. march — the month
  22. march — the month
  23. last — finally
  24. field — 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