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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 120 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: branch · snap · fork · pop · cold · prune · spring · content

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. branch — of a bank
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pop — soda
  5. fork — in a road
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. snap — to click
  10. branch — a division
  11. pop — music
  12. content — the amount
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. spring — the season
  15. spring — of water
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — to trim
  19. content — happy
  20. cold — an illness
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. pop — to visit

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