One vocabulary area that seems to challenge many is: providing two or more different definitions for words that have multiple meanings. Targeting multiple meaning words over a few weeks isn’t enough; I’ll focus on them throughout the school year for measurable gains. So, I developed word banks for monthly calendars based on a seasonal activity, event, or category. I found that asking students to provide a definition relative to the theme was very helpful.
Lesson Plan
At the beginning of every session, each student would provide one definition for the day’s target word. Every Friday, I wrote “Review Day” on the calendar so students could pick whatever word they wanted from the past week. Sometimes, there were small candy incentives for accurately providing at least two, different definitions. Below are word banks you can use to make your own calendars.
Seasonal Words That Have Multiple Meanings
- January (Hockey words): slip, icing, sticks, fans, ice, mask, uniform, slash, goal, net, line, slide, glass, coach, pass, shoot
- February (Body Parts): head, ear, limb, hand, feet, nail, face, arms, foot, lash, gum, calf, back, arm
- March (Baseball Words): bat, batter, pitcher, run, home, strike, ball, coach, hit, fan, plate, fly, diamond
- April (Animal words): bark, duck, hog, bear, clam, fly, bug, fish, bat, snake, crane, chicken, monkey, pig, rat, badger
- May (Action words): join, drive, straighten, play, grill, settle, observe, grasp, spare, take, spin, stand, fire, fix, beat, lose, shake, sign, miss
- September (Things You May Find in Your Home): iron, key, light, bed, screen, shed, sink, yard, fan, entrance, deck, plant, table, pool, steps
- October (Basketball): ball, hoop, court, coach, dribble, pass, shoot, basket, net, quarter, foul, travel, trip, charge, block, run, steal, fan, tie
- November (Football): ball, tackle, coach, quarter, half, run, pass, field, guard, fan, wave, catch, practice, cover, down, flag, cheer
- December (Holiday/ Seasonal words): cold, present, ice, star, shop, stockings, bow, trip, open, light, wrap, tag
Nanette Cote is an ASHA certified speech pathologist, published author, and private practice business owner with 30 years experience.
target sound, /p/, and then you purchase other sounds at various prices. Speech pathologists will want the entire collection, while parents need only purchase sound targets applicable for their children. No need to dig for flashcards because this puts them all in the palm of your hand. You can work at word, phrase, sentence, or story levels and set sound targets for all positions in words. In addition to the flashcards, there are memory games built into every sound target, making carryover practice easy and fun!
