MULTIPLE MEANING WORDS

A list of 125 homographs and homonyms to use with your students. Includes definitions,
examples, parts of speech, and pronunciation guides where necessary.

POSSIBLE ACTIVITIES
Here are a few ideas for what your students might do with these words:

1. Write sentences that use multiple meanings within the same sentence. Bonus points for
unique uses.
I used a bass to hit my bass drum.
I cleared off our clear kitchen table.
2. Draw an image showing each use of the word, but no writing allowed.
3. Create products that incorporate the various meanings.
A compressible compress for on-the-go emergencies.
The square-yard yard: for those living in small apartments.
A fish bank on a river bank: a convenient place for fish to store money.
4. Act out the various meanings in a skit, but no speaking allowed.

WORD LIST
ACCENT
1. (n) - A way of speaking based on where one grew up : “My cousin has an English
accent.”
2. (n) - An emphasis on a word : “When you say dinosaur, the accent is on the first
syllable.”
3. (n) - A small, but notable decoration : “When I decorated my bedroom, I put a bit of red
paint as an accent.”

AFFECT
1. a•fect (v) - To change : “Eating candy will affect your health.”
2. a•fect (n) - Emotion : “The robot had no affect when it spoke.”
ATTRIBUTE
1. a•tri•bute (n) - A characteristic : “Hair color is one attribute we use to recognize
people.”
2. a•tri•bute (v) - To give credit : “I have to attribute my success to my parents’
encouragement.”

AUGUST
1. Au•gust (n) - The eighth month of the year : “My sister’s birthday is the first of August.”
2. au•gust (adj) - solemn and serious : “The speech honoring fallen soldiers was august.”

BANK
1. (n) - A place where money is stored : “I’m going to drop my grandma’s birthday check
off at the bank.”
2. (n) - The sloping land near a river : “You can find lots of frogs down by the bank.”
3. (v) - To bounce something off a surface, then into the goal : “To make the shot, I had to
bank the basketball off the backboard.”

BARK
1. (v) - To make a noise like a dog : “I heard your dog bark late last night.”
2. (n) - The surface of a tree : “A tree’s bark protects it from insects.”

BASE
1. (n) - A headquarters : “The general returned his army safely to the base.”
2. (n) - The bottom of an object : “I couldn’t push the box over, it’s base was too sturdy.”
3. (n) - A piece of baseball equipment : “After I hit the ball, I ran to first base and then kept
going to second!”

BASS
1. {base} (n) - A low-sounding string instrument : “My cousins are learning violin, but I
decided on the bass.”
2. {bass} (n) - A type of fish : “My dad and I went out bass fishing last summer.”

BAT
1. (n) - A flying mammal : “Many bats eat fruit and live in caves.”
2. (n) - A piece of equipment used in baseball : “I always use my lucky bat during
important games.”

BEAR
1. (n) - An animal : “When hiking, it’s important to be aware of bears.”
2. (v) - to carry : “When we moved the furniture, I had to bear more weight than you.”
BEAT
1. (v) - To hit repeatedly : “We have to beat the rug over and over to get the dust out.”
2. (v) - To mix : “Add two eggs, then beat them until they are well-mixed.”

BLOCK
1. (v) - To stop something from entering : “I put my desk in front of the door to block
anyone from getting in.”
2. (n) - A stackable toy : “I tripped over a pile of wooden blocks.”
3. (n) - A group of houses on the same street : “My best friend and I live on the same
block.”

BOOK
1. (n) - A set of papers bound together for reading : “I read six books this summer.”
2. (v) - To reserve something ahead of time : “I booked our hotel rooms for the family
vacation.”

BOX
1. (n) - An object used for storage : “We found another box of toys behind the garage.”
2. (v) - To compete in the sport of boxing : “My older brother is learning to box at the
gym.”

BOW
1. (n) - Equipment used to shoot an arrow : “My friend is an archer and owns an expensive
bow.”
2. (v) - To bend at the waist : “At the end of the show, all of the performers took a bow.”
3. (n) - The shape used when tying string : “I always tie a bow on the presents I give.”
4. (n) - The object used to play a violin : “My violin bow is made of horsehair.”

CAN
1. (n) - A container : “Be sure to pick up a can of tomatoes.”
2. (v) - To fire someone : “My dad had to can one of his employees.”
3. (v) - To have the ability to do something : “I can climb that fence, but I don’t want to!”

CHANGE
1. (v) - To make something different : “I went home to change clothes.”
2. (n) - Coins : “I tipped him using the change in my pocket.”
CHECK
1. (v) - To make sure of something : “I thought I packed my math book, but I wanted to
check.”
2. (n) - A piece of paper used to transfer money : “Since it cost so much, we used a check
to buy the boat.”

CLEAR
1. (v) - To remove everything : “I cleared the table for dinner.”
2. (n) - transparent : “I could see right through the clear glass aquarium.”

CLOSE
1. {cloz} (v) - To shut : “The last one in needs to close the door.”
2. {clos} (adj) - Near : “I can hear his footsteps, he must be very close.”

COMBINE
1. com•bine (n) - A group of people working together : “At a combine, some people will
grow crops, and others will raise animals.”
2. com•bine (v) - To put two things together : “When you combine peanut butter and jelly,
you get a delicious sandwich!”

COMMUNE
1. com•mune (v) - To share with another person or a spirit, often on a deep level : “The
fortune teller told me she could help me commune with spirits from the past.”
2. com•mune (n) - A group of people who live together and share their possessions : “At
the commune, everyone helps each other and shares their food and supplies.”

COMPACT
1. com•pact (v) - To make smaller : “Compact that empty can by standing on top of it.”
2. com•pact (n) - A device that holds women’s makeup : “My mom looked at the mirror in
her compact and put some more powder on her face.”

COMPOUND
1. com•pound (n) - Something that is made of smaller parts. : “Water is a compound of
hydrogen and oxygen.”
2. com•pound (n) - An area enclosed by a fence. : “The soldiers approached the enemy
compound and waited outside the fence.”
3. com•pound (v) - To increase : “Her fear of heights was compounded by her fear of
clowns on the carnival ride.”
COMPRESS
1. com•press (v) - To make smaller : “We will compress the trash by stepping on it.”
2. com•press (n) - A folded material to put on a wound : “Here, use this shirt as a compress
on that cut.”

CONDUCT
1. con•duct (n) - Behavior : “You all need to follow the appropriate conduct while we’re at
the museum.”
2. con•duct (v) - To organize and control : “The boss conducted the meeting, making sure
everything went smoothly.”

CONSOLE
1. con•sole (v) - To try to make a sad person feel better : “After I got my spelling test back,
my friend had to console me.”
2. con•sole (n) - An electrical unit containing controls : “The operator worked at the
console for seven hours straight.”

CONTENT
1. con•tent (adj) - Pleased with the current situation : “I felt completely content while
laying in the warm sun by the pool.”
2. con•tent (n) - The items inside something : “I could wait to see the content of the
mysterious birthday box.”

CONTEST
1. con•test (v) - To argue : “The student had to contest the question because it seemed
unfair.”
2. con•test (n) - A competition : “I can’t wait to enter the chili contest this summer!”

CONVICT
1. con•vict (n) - One who has been found guilty : “The convict was sent to prison for three
years.”
2. con•vict (v) - To declare someone guilty : “The jury didn’t convict her since there wasn’t
enough evidence.”

COOL
1. (adj) - Cold to the touch : “I like when the water is a little bit cool, but not too cold.”
2. (adj) - Hip and popular : “Wearing t-shirts backwards is the new cool thing to do!”
COORDINATES
1. {co•ord•in•aytes} (v) - Organizes : “The manager coordinates the rest of the
employees.”
2. {co•or•din•its} (n) - A set of numbers indicating position : “Using the coordinates and a
map, we were able to locate the missing pilot.”

COURT
1. (n) - A place where trials are held : “I had to go to court for jury duty last week.”
2. (v) - To try to win another’s favor : “The governor was trying to court voters so they
would elect him.”

CRANE
1. (n) - A bird : “That tall, white bird is known as a crane.”
2. (n) - A piece of construction equipment : “They used a crane to lift the new sign onto the
building.”
3. (v) - To bend, especially one’s neck : “I had to crane my neck to look around the pole
that was blocking my view.”

DEFAULT
1. (n) - The original setting of an option : “The default setting of the computer has a yellow
cursor, but I want to change it to white.”
2. (v) - To fail to pay back a loan : “When I lost my job, I couldn’t pay my loan back, so I
defaulted.”

DEFECT
1. de•fect (n) - An imperfection : “I sent the car back, since I noticed a defect in the paint
job.”
2. de•fect (v) - To leave one’s country for another : “During the war, an enemy general
defected and came to our country.”

DESERT
1. des•ert (n) - A dry place : “My family went camping in the desert. We had to bring a lot
of water!”
2. des•ert (v) - To abandon others : “When the battle started to go poorly, many soldiers
decided to desert.”
DIGEST
1. (v) - To break down food in the stomach : “All this pizza will take a long time for me to
digest.”
2. (n) - A summary of information : “Rather than reading all of the articles, I just read the
digest.”

DISCOUNT
1. (n) - A reduced price : “I got a great discount on my sofa! 25% off!”
2. (v) - Not realizing the importance of something : “When the little boy told his mom he
heard a strange noise, she discounted his report and ignored what he was telling her.”

DISPLAY
1. (n) - A computer monitor : “I bought a new display for my laptop.”
2. (v) - To show something : “I put my brand new award on display.”

DOES
1. {duz} (v) - The present form of do : “How much money does your mom make?”
2. {doze} (n) - Female deer : “I saw two does in the field with some young deer.”

DOWN
1. (n) - The feathers of a young bird : “My pillow is so fluffy because it’s filled with down!”
2. (prep) - A direction : “I’m moving my TV down to the first floor.”
3. (n) - In American Football, a chance for a team to move the ball forward : “The team has
four downs to move the football ten yards.”

DOVE
1. {duv} (n) - A bird : “A white dove is often released as a sign of peace.”
2. {dohv} (v) - The past tense of dive : “I dove into the pool off the high dive.”

DUCK
1. (n) - A water bird : “I went down to the pond and fed the ducks some bread.”
2. (v) - To drop down to avoid something : “When the ball was headed at my head, I
quickly ducked to avoid it.”

DUST
1. (n) - Small particles : “The dust in this old library sure makes me sneeze.”
2. (v) - To clean away the small particles : “My favorite part of housecleaning is dusting the
shelves.”
ENTRANCE
1. en•trance (n) - A way into a building : “To be safe, we had to keep the entrance to our
building clear.”
2. en•trance (n) - The arrival of people : “The king and queen made a grand entrance.”
3. en•trance (v) - To be put under a spell or to be delighted : “The kids were entranced by
the juggler’s skill.”

EVENING
1. (n) - Night : “During the evening, we all sit by the fireplace and read books together.”
2. (v) - Making all the same : “When we made cookies, I was in charge of evening out the
dough so they would cook at the same rate.”

EXACT
1. (adj) - Precise : “My grandpa makes exact measurements before he cuts the wood.”
2. (v) - To demand or take with force : “I exacted my revenge by setting my brother’s alarm
two hours early!”

EXPLOIT
1. ex•ploit (v) - To take advantage of : “One student tried to exploit an error on the test to
improve her score.”
2. ex•ploit (n) - An adventure : “This summer, we’re going to go on vacation and have
some exciting exploits!”

FATHOM
1. (v) - To understand something : “I couldn’t fathom why the library didn’t have the book I
was looking for.”
2. (n) - A measurement of depth equal to two yards or six feet : “The ship needed to stay at
a depth of at least three fathoms.”

FINANCE
1. (n) - The management of money : “In college, my uncle studied finance.”
2. (v) - To provide funding : “My uncle agreed to finance my new business, as long as I pay
him back next year.”

FINE
1. (adj) - Sharp or detailed : “To color in the details, I used a fine-tipped marker.”
2. (adj) - Doing well, but not great : “I’m fine, but I felt better yesterday.”
3. (n) - A payment one must pay as a penalty : “When we sped on the highway, the police
officer gave us a fine.”
FLUKE
1. (n) - An unusual and unlikely event : “When I made the shot from half court, it was a
complete fluke. I had never done it before.”
2. (n) - A type of fish : “I did my fish report on the fluke. It’s also known as a flounder.”
3. (n) - The tail of a whale : “As the whale came up for air, and then wend underwater, I saw
a white spot on its fluke.”

FOOT
1. (n) - A unit of measurement : “My dad is one foot taller than my older brother.”
2. (n) - A body part : “I injured my foot hiking through the forest.”

FREQUENT
1. (adj) - Happening often : “Our teacher makes frequent changes to our homework.”
2. (v) - To go to a place regularly : “He frequents this restaurant every week.”

GRAVE
1. (n) - A site for burials : “We visited the grave of a famous general.”
2. (adj) - Solemn and serious : “Our teacher had a grave look on his face when he handed
back our essays.”

GROSS
1. (adj) - Disgusting : “The lunch today was mushy and gross.”
2. (n) - 144 of something : “My dad’s restaurant ordered a gross of napkins.”

GROOM
1. (v) - To clean : “I watched the cat groom itself.”
2. (n) - A man getting married : “The bride and groom looked beautiful at their wedding.”

INCENSE
1. in•cense (v) - To make one angry : “The poor test scores incensed our teacher.”
2. in•cense (n) - An object that produces a smell when burned : “During the service, the
burning incensed filled the room with a wonderful odor.”

INCLINED
1. (v) - To want to do something : “My dad is not usually inclined to let me stay up past
eleven o’clock.”
2. (adj) - Raised at an angle going up : “The inclined plank of wood made a great ramp.”
INSERT
1. in•sert (v) - To put something in : “I inserted the key into the lock and opened the
mysterious door.”
2. in•sert (n) - Loose paper put into a brochure : “I opened the new magazine, and several
inserts fell out, asking me to subscribe.”

INTERN
1. in•tern (n) - A student working for free at a company to learn the industry : “We hired
another intern to help test our equipment.”
2. in•tern (v) - To work for free in order to learn : “I’m going to intern at the power plant
the summer.”
3. in•tern (v) - To hold someone as a prisoner : “We had to intern the enemy soldier until
our commander returned.”

INTRIGUE
1. in•trigue (v) - To arouse interest in another person : “The new student had blue hair. It
really intrigued me!”
2. in•trigue (n) - Mysteriousness : "There was a lot of intrigue on the playground, people
were whispering and looking around, but no one knew what was going on.

INVITE
1. in•vite (n) - An invitation : “Did you get my invite to the party?”
2. in•vite (v) - To ask someone to come to an event : “I’m going to invite my great
grandmother to the party.”

JUST
1. (adj) - barely : “I just made it to class on time.”
2. (adj) - Fair and true : “The ruler was just. He treated all of his citizens equally.”

KIND
1. (adj) - Friendly, generous, or nice : “Your father is so kind to us.”
2. (n) - A group that shares characteristics : “Red Delicious is my favorite kind of apple.”

LAND
1. (v) - To put an aircraft onto the ground : “The pilot was able to land the plane despite
the rough winds.”
2. (n) - The surface of the earth : “We traveled 2000 miles across land during our vacation.”
LEAD
1. {led} (n) - A metal : “Lead is a heavy metal, often used to protect patients from x-rays.”
2. {leed} (v) - To be in charge of : “My mom is going to lead the orchestra during their
performance tonight.”
3. {leed} (adj) - in charge of : “They’re going to promote me to lead salesperson in the
store this week!”

LEARNED
1. learn•ed (v) - To understand something, past tense : “I learned about the mammals of
Australia today.”
2. learn•ed (adj) - Knowledgable : “My professor is a very learned woman.”

LEFT
1. (adj) - The opposite of the right : “When I write with my left hand, everything looks so
messy. ”
2. (v) - Departed : “Some of my friends left the party early to study for tomorrow’s test.”

LETTER
1. (n) - A part of the alphabet : “I remember when I first learned my letters and numbers in
kindergarten.”
2. (n) - A written piece of communication : “The president receives millions of letters every
year.”

LIGHT
1. (adj) - Not heavy : “Once I took my laptop out, the bag was very light.”
2. (n) - A brightness that makes objects visible : “When the lights turned on, I had to cover
my eyes.”

LIVE
1. (adj) - Still breathing : “The fish in the aquarium was live, it wasn’t a toy!”
2. (adj) - Happening at this moment : “We got to watch the president make his speech live
on TV!”
MATCH
1. (v) - To find two things that go together : “I always have to dig through my drawers to
find socks that match.”
2. (n) - An item used to light other things on fire : “We used a long match to start the
barbecue.”
3. (n) - Two things that go well together : “I love your outfit, the pants and shirt really
match nicely.”

MIND
1. (v) - To be bothered by something : “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to sit down
for a moment.”
2. (n) - The brain : “My mind is full of amazing facts about dinosaurs.”

MINUTE
1. {my•newt} (adj) - Something very small : “After I clean my room, my dad looks over
every minute detail.”
2. {min•ut} (n) - A period of time lasting 60 seconds : “Recess is going to last ten minutes
this morning.”

MOPED
1. {mo•ped} (n) - A motorized bicycle : “I’m not old enough to drive, but I am allowed to
ride a moped.”
2. {mopd} (v) - Acted in sad way : “After his team lost, Uncle Ed moped around the house
for a week.”

NAILS
1. (n) - Objects used with a hammer : “We bought a box of nails to assemble the new
desk.”
2. (n) - Hard objects found on the tip of fingers : “My aunt paints nails for a living. She has a
very successful business!”

NUMBER
1. (n) - An amount expressed as a character : “My favorite number is 27.”
2. (v) - To total : “The group numbered in the thousands”

OBJECT
1. ob•ject (n) - A generic name for any item : “Pick any object in the store for your gift.”
2. ob•ject (v) - To announce one’s disapproval : “I object to this assignment. It’s too much
work!”
OCCUPATION
1. (n) - a job : “My dad’s new occupation is vice president of the paper company.”
2. (n) – control by another force : “The army began their occupation of the fort last week.”

OFFENSE
1. of•fense (n) - In sports, the team that is trying to score : “When our basketball team’s on
offense, we score almost every time.”
2. of•fense (n) - An illegal or disliked action : “I broke the playground rule, but it was my
first offense so the teacher didn’t tell my parents.”

OVERLOOK
1. (v) - To miss a detail : “Somehow I overlooked all of these spelling errors in my essay!”
2. (n) - A place with a good view : “We stopped the car at the overlook and took pictures
of the ocean.”

PARK
1. (n) - A green area within a city : “We took my nephews to the park to play tag.”
2. (v) - To stop and leave a car : “I parked the car and walked to the store.”

PEER
1. (n) - Someone who is at the same age or place in life : “The students in my class are my
peers.”
2. (v) - To look closely at something : “I peered through the window at the strange bird.”

PERFECT
1. per•fect (adj) - Without mistakes : “That painting is perfect! Don’t add anything else.”
2. per•fect (v) - To finish something by removing all mistakes : “I get most of my essay
done quickly, but then take a long time to perfect it.”

PERMIT
1. per•mit (v) - To allow someone to do something : “I’ll permit you to stay in the computer
lab during lunch as long as you’re quiet.”
2. per•mit (n) - A document showing that one is allowed : “My parents needed a permit in
order to open their business.”

PLAIN
1. (adj) - Simple : “I’ll just wear a plain white t-shirt.”
2. (n) - A flat piece of land : “My ancestors settled on the plains of Kansas.”
POLISH
1. {paal•ish} (v) - To wipe something until is shines : “I like to polish my trophies every
week.”
2. {pole•ish} (adj) - Describes someone from Poland : “My grandmother is Polish. She
moved here from Poland twenty years ago.”

PROCEEDS
1. pro•ceeds (v) - Moves forward : “This movie proceeds very quickly into the action.”
2. pro•ceeds (n) - Money gained from an event : “The proceeds from this event are going
to a children’s hospital.”

PRODUCE
1. pro•duce (v) - To make : “My aunt’s company produces wool sweaters.”
2. pro•duce (n) - Fruits or vegetables : “We go to the farmer’s market every weekend to
pick up fresh produce.”

PROJECT
1. pro•ject (n) - An ongoing amount of work : “Painting the house is going to be quite a
project.”
2. pro•ject (v) - To throw forward : “A canon projects a canon ball towards its target.”
3. pro•ject (v) - To shine light onto a screen : “At an IMAX theater, they project the movie
onto an extra large screen.”

PURPOSE
1. (n) - A reason for doing something : “The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the
upcoming carnival.”
2. (n) - Determination : “My sister has great purpose. She never stops working towards her
goals.”

QUAIL
1. (n) - A type of bird : “On my grandparents’ farm, they sometimes go quail hunting.”
2. (v) - To show great fear : “The students quailed in fear as the mean Mr. Jones walked
through the playground.”

REBEL
1. re•bel (n) - One who opposes a government : “The rebels came into the capitol city and
challenged the king.”
2. re•bel (v) - To against a ruler : “When the king became cruel, the citizens began to
rebel.”
RECALL
1. re•call (v) - To remember : “I couldn’t recall the last time our cousins had spent the
night.”
2. re•call (v) - To bring back : “The car company had to recall their latest model because of
a problem with the seat belts.”

RECESS
1. re•cess (n) - A part of a wall that is set back : “We have a small recess near our front
door where we put our keys.”
2. re•cess (n) - A break : “Let’s take a brief recess and then come back to the meeting.”
3. re•cess (v) - To take a break : “‘We are going to recess for the day,’ explained the
judge.”

REFUSE
1. {re fuse} (v) - To deny permission : “My parents refused to let me stay up until midnight.”
2. {reh fuse} (n) - Garbage : “We take all of the refuge out to the trash cans by the street.”

RIGHT
1. (adj) - Correct : “We had a big argument, but my friend was right.”
2. (adj) - Not left : “I always use my right hand to throw.”
3. (n) - Something that is given to people by the law : “In some countries, you don’t have
the right to speak against the government.”
4. (v) - To set something back up after it has fallen : “I noticed the chair had tipped over, so
I righted it.”

ROCK
1. (n) - A hard mineral : “Wear shoes so you don’t hurt your feet on a rock.”
2. (v) - To move gently back and forth : “I watched the mother rock her baby to sleep.”
3. (v) - To stun or shock : “When I heard they were making a sequel to my favorite movie, it
rocked my world!”

ROSE
1. (n) - A flower : “A red rose is often given as a Valentine’s Day gift.”
2. (v) - The past tense of rise : “This morning, I rose at 10:30.”

ROUTED
1. {root•ed or rowt•ed} (v) - To have planned a path : “My GPS routed us through the city.”
2. {rowt•ed} (v) - To cause an army to retreat in an unorganized way : “When we brought
out the cannon, we routed our enemies.”
ROW
1. (v) - To move a boat forward with oars : “Rowing a boat is much harder than it looks!”
2. (n) - A series of objects arranged in a line : “My teacher had the desks set up in three
rows.”
3. (n) - A fight (British) : “My mum and sister had quite a row last night.”

SEAL
1. (n) - A darkly colored marine mammal : “We watched seals perform in a show on our
vacation”
2. (v) - To close something permanently : “They sealed the door so it couldn’t be opened
again.”
3. (n) - A decorative object often connected to a government or group : “I learned all
about our state seal.”

SECOND
1. (n) - 1/60th of a minute : “It takes me only thirty seconds to get to school in the
morning.”
2. (adj) - Coming after first : “The second person into the class this morning was Jennifer.”
3. (v) - To support a proposed idea : “I second the motion to make Jane our president.”

SEWER
1. {so•er} (n) - One who sews : “A skilled sewer can finish a dress in a couple days.”
2. {soo•er} (n) - A series of tunnels that carries away waste : “When the sewer gets backed
up, the whole city starts to smell bad!”

SINK
1. (n) - A container that holds water and is used to wash : “Make sure the dishes are all out
of the sink!”
2. (v) - To go under water : “The boat took on water and began to sink.”

SOW
1. {so} (v) - To plant seeds : “We sow our seeds by scattering them on the field.”
2. {sao} (n) - A female pig : “This sow just gave birth to five piglets.”

STAKES
1. (n) - Long, sharp objects that are hammered into something else : “The tent might blow
away, so we’re going to hammer these steaks in to hold it down.”
2. (n) - Money or other objects that are being gambled : “Johnny didn’t want to lose too
much money, so he went to the low-stakes table in the casino.”
SUBJECT
1. sub•ject (v) - To make someone go through something : “Our teacher subjects us to a
100 word spelling test every week!”
2. sub•ject (n) - The topic of conversation : “Can we change the subject? I’m tired of
hearing about the history of celery.”
3. sub•ject (n) - Someone who lives under a ruler : “The mighty king of Fringland is gentle
to all of his subjects.”

SURVEY
1. (v) - To ask people their opinions : “We’re going to survey the third graders and ask
what playground equipment they like the most.”
2. (n) - The test used to ask people their opinions : “The survey was too confusing, people
kept erasing their answers and changing them.”
3. (v) - To measure the features of land : “Before construction began, people came to
survey the property to make sure it was level.”

SUSPECT
1. sus•pect (v) - To have an idea, but be unsure : “I suspect that Julie will be the best
choice, but still want to think about it.”
2. sus•pect (n) - One who is believed to have committed a crime : “The police have
arrested a suspect in the candy bar theft.”

SIGN
1. (v) - To officially write one’s name : “Please sign these documents and then we can open
your bank account.”
2. (n) - A display with writing on it : “My dad’s been painting signs since he was a little kid.”

TEAR
1. {teer} (n) - A drop of water from one’s eye : “I realized I had been too harsh when I saw
the tears forming in his eyes.”
2. {tare} (v) - To rip something : “Be careful when you take that jacket off, you don’t want to
rip it.”
3. {tare} (n) - A rip : “I didn’t notice this tear in my jeans before. I wonder how long it’s been
there?”

TENDER
1. (adj) - Easily hurt : “My knee is still tender from tripping last week.”
2. (adj) - Easy to chew or cut : “This steak is so tender, I barely have to use my knife!”
TIE
1. (v) - To connect two pieces of string : “Let’s tie these jump ropes together to make a
really long one!”
2. (n) - An item worn around the neck on formal occasions. : “My older brother had to help
me get my tie on.”

TRANSFER
1. (v) - To move from one place to another : “We’re going to transfer the books to the new
school.”
2. (n) - One who has been moved to a new job : “Jim’s a transfer from the San Francisco
office.”
3. (n) - A picture that can be ironed onto a shirt : “I printed out transfer and then ironed it
onto a plain white shirt. Now I have my own clothing brand!”

TRANSPLANT
1. (v) - To move something to another place : “Since the soil was so dry, we had to
transplant the tree into a different area.”
2. (n) - Something that has been moved to another place : “My parents are transplants!
They grew up in China and moved here just before I was born.”

TRANSPORT
1. (v) - To move something : “The new store had to transport huge crates of toys through
the town.”
2. (n) - A vehicle that moves people: “The troops rode in a large transport across the
country.”

TRIP
1. (n) - A vacation : “This summer, my family is taking a trip to Tokyo!”
2. (v) - To fall : “My loose shoelace made me trip as I left the classroom.”

UPSET
1. up•set (n) - A game in which the favored team lost : “It was quite an upset when the first
graders beat the fifth graders.”
2. up•set (v) - To beat a favored team : “The first graders upset the fifth graders in
handball.”
3. up•set (adj) - Unhappy : “Mom is really upset that her basketball team lost.”
4. up•set (v) - To make unhappy : “I didn’t mean to upset you, but I had to be honest.”
WATCH
1. (v) - To look at : “We’re going to watch my brother’s play tonight.”
2. (n) - a time-telling device : “My new watch is digital and can go under water.”

WAVE
1. (n) - Water which rises up and crashes : “I rode a wave for the first time last summer.”
2. (v) - To move one’s hand in a greeting : “I saw my brother wave to me across the store.”

WOUND
1. {wownd} (v) - Twisted; the past tense of wind : “I wound up the toy car by twisting the
knob.”
2. {woond} (n) - An injury : “After I fell off the ladder, I had a small wound on my leg.”

YARD
1. (n) - A unit of measurement : “My grandpa is just over two yards tall.”
2. (n) - A lawn or grassy area : “My dad wants my sister and I to clean up the yard before
our guests arrive.”