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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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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: wind · prune · degree · patient · shower · track · season · content

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. wind — moving air
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. shower — rain
  6. degree — from a university
  7. track — a song
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. degree — an amount
  11. shower — to wash
  12. wind — moving air
  13. prune — to trim
  14. season — in sport
  15. track — a path
  16. season — of the year
  17. content — happy
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. track — to keep track
  20. prune — to trim
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. content — the amount
  23. degree — temperature
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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