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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 116 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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. object — to protest
  3. mate — a partner
  4. spell — magic
  5. cell — in biology
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. spell — a short time
  8. object — a thing
  9. field — farmland
  10. cell — a phone
  11. march — music
  12. mate — a friend
  13. march — the month
  14. object — an aim
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. pass — a permit
  17. file — a line of people
  18. mate — to breed
  19. field — for sport
  20. spell — letters
  21. file — a document
  22. march — the month
  23. file — a tool
  24. cell — in a prison

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