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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: cold · content · swing · branch · band · spring · foot · board

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. content — happy
  3. swing — music
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. spring — the season
  6. board — a committee
  7. band — a music group
  8. branch — a division
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. spring — of water
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. foot — a measure
  13. board — to get on
  14. swing — to play on
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — not warm
  17. swing — in golf
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. band — a ring
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. spring — a coil

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