The 100 Most Important Multiple Meaning Words Kids Need to Know

English vocabulary can be confusing for young learner. Today, we’re taking a look at one of those confusing parts – the multiple meaning words – that is, words that have more than one meaning.

To get technical for a minute, our multiple meaning words can be put in one of three categories:

1. Homophones: words that sound the same, but are spelled differently and have different meanings. For example: ‘son’ and ‘sun’.
2. Homonyms: words that sound the same, are spelled the same, but have different meanings.
3. Homographs: words that sound different, are spelled the same, but have different meanings.
   

We’re going to focus on homonyms as they are the hardest to decipher for the young reader. In summary, the homonyms can be categorized into two sections: grades K-2, and grades 3-5. In fact, to be exact, there are 105 words that are most widely used and, therefore, important for students to know.

We’ve summarized them in the two sheets below, which you can print off in PDF format.

Kindergarten to grade 2 Multiple Meaning Words

Grades 3 - 5 Multiple Meaning Words