Teaching Ideas for Homonyms- Activities, Book Ideas and a Brief List of Homonyms to Start

Teaching Ideas for Homonyms- Activities, Book Ideas and a Brief List of Homonyms to Start
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It’s a Flower in a Bag of Flour….

First introduce the definition:

Homophones ~ are words that sound alike but have different meaning.

Activities to Teach Homonyms

  1. Using a list of homonyms have the students create their own story. (A short list is at the bottom of this article).

  2. Help the flea flee–

~ Divide the room into groups. Each race to get the flea to the dog. Every time they correctly picked the right homonym their flea advances. Using the list of homonyms below and adding your own if needed make two columns. Writing one in A and the pair in B.(For example: Altar in ‘a’ and alter in ‘b’)

~ create a list of questions to be read aloud to the class.For example: “I want to visit my mother’s sister.”

  1. Homonym Bingo– Make cards listing the words from the list below. Read the definition.

A Starter List of Homonyms to Teach

altar- raised center of worship/ alter- to change

ant- insect/ aunt- parent’s sister

ate- past tense of eat/ eight- the number

bailed- pumping water/ baled- to gather

bald- hairless/ balled- clump of material to make a ball/ bawled- cried aloud

bare- naked/ bear- animal

base- the bottom support/ bass- the lowest musical pitch or range

be- to exist/ bee- animal with a buzzer

beat- to hit/ beet- edible red root

billed- has a bill/ build- to construct

blew- past tense of blow/ blue- color of the sky

board- a plank/ bored- not interested

capital- most important/ capitol- center of government

cause- generative force/ caws- sounds of crows

ceiling- top of the room/ sealing- to close a package or envelope

cell- small room/ sell- to exchange for money

cent- coin money/ scent- a smell/ sent- dispatched

dear- beloved / deer- animal

flea- insect/ flee- to run away

Great Classroom Books

Brief Book Reviews

How Much can a Bare Bear Bear? What Are Homonyms and Homophones? By: Brain P. Cleary

Ideal for grades 2-5.This book is a great double duty featuring delight explanation of homonyms and homophones. An example:

May I sail with you in May and coast all along the coast?

Or a personal favorite:

Why don’t we toast with some toast?

Dear Deer: A Book of Homophones by: Gene Barretta

While this is aimed for ages 4 through 8, it makes a great illustration book for class projects. The story is about Aunt Ant. She has moved to the zoo and writes a letter describing the different animal behavior. For example there is a moose that loved mousse and ate eight bowls. Don’t forget about the whale who was allowed to wail aloud!

References

  • Teacher experience

    Images from Amazon.com