Activities to Teach Multiple-Meaning Words
Teaching vocabulary words is a integral part of language arts lessons. However, teaching vocabulary words, particularly multiple-meaning words, can be tricky, especially when trying to make sure the instruction is effective. Activities that engage students and capture their attention are more likely to increase retention. These are not simply homophones, which are words that sound the same but have different meanings, such as "right" and "write." Rather, these are words such as "color," which might mean the shade of something as well as the verb "to color something." Another example is "shade." This word can indicate a color tone, the lack of sun or an item used over a lamp base.
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Illustrated Words
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Provide students with a list of multiple-meaning words and go over the list together as a class discussing the various meanings of each word. Have the students individually pick a dozen or so words and illustrate the various meanings, creating their own illustrated mini-dictionary. Make sure that students then label each definition with the part of speech that definition is, such as a noun or verb or adjective.
Multiple Meaning Partner Seek
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In this vocabulary game, each student is given a card with a definition. You will need to make sure there are two different definition cards for each word. Students wander around the classroom trying to find someone who has a definition for the same word as they do. Use words such as crash, fly, drive and so on. Many multiple-meaning words will be noun- and verb-paired meanings.
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Riddle Books
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Provide students with a large list of multiple-meaning words, which you will go over as a class. Then instruct students to choose 10 words to create multiple-meaning riddles for. They should come up with at least two definition riddles for each word. Have them write the riddles into a booklet and provide an answer key at the end of the booklet. Ask students to share their unique riddle books in the classroom library center or similar area.
Vocab Match Game
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Have students play a game in which one player draws a multiple-meaning vocabulary word card and gives clues to another player. If the player guesses the word correctly, he must give another definition of the word to win the round. Play continues through a stack of vocabulary words. If the student guessing doesn't guess correctly as well as give an additional definition, the clue-giver wins the point for that round. Play passes back and forth between players, regardless of who wins each round.
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