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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: track · pound · prune · content · wind · bank · degree · cold

  1. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — of a river
  2. track — to keep track
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. content — the amount
  8. wind — moving air
  9. wind — moving air
  10. degree — an amount
  11. degree — temperature
  12. content — happy
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. cold — an illness
  15. prune — to trim
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. degree — from a university
  18. bank — for money
  19. track — a path
  20. bank — for money
  21. prune — to trim
  22. track — a song
  23. pound — a weight
  24. prune — the fruit

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