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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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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: drill · content · branch · coach · cold · spring · cue · capital

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — the amount
  3. capital — money
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. spring — a coil
  8. spring — of water
  9. cue — a signal
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. cue — a hint
  12. drill — army training
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. cold — an illness
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. drill — the tool
  18. spring — the season
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cue — for pool
  21. capital — a city
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. drill — a practice
  24. branch — a division

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