About this activity
Twelve words each shown with one of their meanings: bat as a flying animal, bark as a dog sound, fly as an insect, ring as a phone sound, light as not heavy, pitcher as a baseball player, trunk as part of a tree, glasses as things you drink from, spring as a season. Every one has at least one other meaning, and the gap between them is a quiet source of comprehension failure.
How to use it in a session
Ask for the second meaning after each sort. The card gives one sense; the student supplies the other, which is the actual work. Then ask for a sentence for each meaning, since a word's two senses are only genuinely separate when they can be used separately. Ten minutes covers the twelve with the second-meaning step.
What to listen for
Watch which words have a dominant meaning that blocks the other. Bat as an animal and bat as a sporting object are equally frequent for most children; pitcher as a jug is far less available than pitcher as a player to a child who plays baseball. The blocked meaning is the one to teach. Notice whether the student can shift senses when given a sentence, which is the skill reading demands.
Carrying it home
Multiple meanings are a rich source of jokes, which is the easiest way in. Asking what else a word can mean, when one comes up, takes five seconds and children enjoy the ambiguity.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Second through fifth, where multiple-meaning words start causing comprehension trouble.
- Do I need to sign in?
- No, all twelve words play free.
- Why do multiple meanings cause problems?
- Because a reader selects a meaning automatically and rarely revises it. A student who reads pitcher as a baseball player in a passage about lemonade will keep going with the wrong sense and be baffled by the rest.