Recognising that one word can have several different meanings (bark, bank, light) and choosing the meaning that fits a particular sentence.
Where your child meets this in real life: Understanding jokes and word play, reading accurately, and using passage context to resolve word meanings in the SEAG assessment
Vocabulary is not a separate section of the SEAG paper. Word meaning comes up across the English section, especially in the questions on the reading passage.
SEAGReady breaks homonyms and multiple meanings into 2 steps, taught in order so each skill builds on the last.
Recognise that some words have several unrelated meanings and state the meaning used in each of two contrasting sentences
Choose which of several given meanings of a word is the one used in a particular sentence
Try three free questions from our homonyms and multiple meanings course. They start easy and get harder, so you can see where your child's confidence runs out. If they manage the last one without a hint, this topic is probably secure. If not, the steps above show where to start.
Read both sentences: 1) 'A huge wave crashed onto the rocks.' 2) 'Give Granny a wave as the bus pulls away.' What does 'wave' mean in sentence 2?
'Grandad keeps his old photographs in a trunk in the attic.' Which meaning of 'trunk' is used here?
Which ONE word completes both sentences, with a different meaning each time? 1) 'The pupils formed a ___ outside the hall.' 2) 'The actor forgot her final ___ in the play.'
This is the exact interactive worked example your child sees in SEAGReady. Step through it and watch the method build up.
Charlie reads these two sentences in his homework book: 1) 'The farm dog began to bark as the tractor came up the lane.' 2) 'The bark of the old oak tree was rough and cracked.'
The word 'bark' appears in both sentences. Does it mean the same thing each time? Explain what it means in each sentence.
Sentence 1: a farm dog reacting to a tractor - picture the dog making its loud sound
Step 1 of 5
Charlie reads these two sentences in his homework book: 1) 'The farm dog began to bark as the tractor came up the lane.' 2) 'The bark of the old oak tree was rough and cracked.'
The word 'bark' appears in both sentences. Does it mean the same thing each time? Explain what it means in each sentence.
In sentence 1 'bark' is the sound a dog makes; in sentence 2 it is the outer covering of a tree. 'Bark' is a homonym - one word with more than one meaning.
The key insight: Some words are like twins with the same name - identical to look at, but completely different! The sentence around the word tells you which twin you are meeting.
Common mix-up: Thinking 'bark' can only mean a dog's sound, so sentence 2 is about a noisy tree. Many everyday words have more than one meaning. If the meaning you know does not make sense in the sentence, the word probably has another meaning.
These are the misconceptions we see most often in homonyms and multiple meanings, including the ones our practice questions are specifically designed to catch.
Sitting the SEAG test this November? Read our last-month revision plan, Paper 1 vs Paper 2 and test day guide.
SEAGReady finds the exact step where your child gets stuck, teaches it with worked examples like the one above, and brings it back for review so it sticks.
Free to start · no card needed