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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: content · straw · prune · swing · lie · mine

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. content — happy
  3. lie — to recline
  4. prune — to trim
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. swing — in golf
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. prune — to trim
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. swing — music
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. mine — for digging
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. content — the amount
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. prune — the fruit

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