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

Word bank: degree · tear · wind · bear · spring · prune · content · fork

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. tear — from crying
  3. degree — an amount
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. content — the amount
  6. prune — to trim
  7. bear — the animal
  8. wind — moving air
  9. bear — the animal
  10. wind — moving air
  11. fork — in a road
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. spring — the season
  15. prune — to trim
  16. degree — from a university
  17. spring — of water
  18. tear — from crying
  19. spring — a coil
  20. content — videos and posts
  21. content — happy
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. tear — to rip
  24. degree — temperature

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