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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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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: cold · snap · band · straw · squash · spring · swing · content

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. content — the amount
  3. swing — music
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. cold — not warm
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. spring — a coil
  9. band — a ring
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. swing — in golf
  12. spring — the season
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. band — a music group
  15. squash — to crush
  16. spring — of water
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. snap — to click
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. content — happy
  21. cold — an illness
  22. swing — to play on
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. squash — the sport

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