Teaching Words with Multiple Meanings

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As students of a language get more experience with its vocabulary, they can then branch out into learning multiple meanings of words. Homographs are words that are spelled the same way but have more than one meaning. For example, "perezoso" means "lazy", but it is also the word for "sloth". "Sierra" is both a mountain range and a saw. This fall I will be doing the following activities with my high school students to increase their vocabulary. Below you will several free printables I have created: flashcards that can be used in games and several worksheets. Many of these activities can be used with younger students as well.

I created these flashcards so that I could teach my students the words and double meanings. These cards could also be used to play Memory or Go Fish. I am also planning on using them for what I call the "Slapping Game" (more on that later in the post).

Set 1
Set 2
Set 3
Set 4
Set 5
Set 6
Set 7
Set 8
Set 9
Set 10

Here are three worksheets you can use. The first one is just fill in the blank. The other two are definitions in Spanish where the student has to provide the word for.

Worksheet 1
Worksheet 2
Worksheet 3

With the definitions I plan on playing the "Slapping Game" with my students. You need a set of cards for each group of students (Groups of five work well.). Have the students lay out the cards in front of them. You call out a definition for one of the cards (You can use the definitions in the worksheets). The first student to put their hand on the correct card gets to keep the card. The object of the game is to get more cards than your opponents.