Curated OER
A Nice Story
Explore word choice in writing. Your class listens to a short story entitled "A Nice Day" (included) and discusses how the story could be improved. Pupils replace the word nice throughout the story with various synonyms, then reread the...
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets: Semantic Gradients
Use the strategy of determining semantic gradients (shades of meaning) to help students improve their vocabulary and understanding of related words.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Shake It in Shades Game
Make every moment count! Utilize a brain break to learn shades of meaning among verbs at the same time! Included in this lesson is a video of the activity, a reference chart, and a list of fun verbs to act out.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Learning to Recognize and Use Strong Verbs
In this lesson plan, students will listen to stories and determine the meaning of the word by using sentence-level context clues. They will think about the verbs that are used and think about how that verb appeals to their senses, giving...
McGraw Hill
Mc Graw Hill Education: Language: Vocabulary Acquisition: Shades of Meaning
This is a PDF learning exercise in which the students order synonyms according to the strength of the word and fill in the blanks in a reading passage with the most appropriate word.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Using Word Webs to Teach Synonyms for Commonly Used Words
Contains plans for seven lessons that teach students to use more expressive synonyms in their written and oral language. In addition to objectives and standards, this instructional plan contains printable resources for the lessons as...
Study Ladder
Studyladder: Shades of Meaning
Interactive activity to help students differentiate shades of meaning among groups of words.
Scholastic
Scholastic: What's Another Word For? What's the Opposite Of?
Check out these creative ways to teach students about synonyms and antonyms. Features a great list of ideas for teachers to include in their lesson plans.
![Mc Graw Hill: Language: Vocabulary Acquisition: Shades of Meaning: Verbs [Pdf] Activity](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Mc Graw Hill: Language: Vocabulary Acquisition: Shades of Meaning: Verbs [Pdf] Activity")
Curated OER
Mc Graw Hill: Language: Vocabulary Acquisition: Shades of Meaning: Verbs [Pdf]
Students learn about the differences among action verbs with similar meanings by acting them out with classmates in this fun verb game.
Primary Resources
Primary Resources: To Order Words According to Shades of Meaning [Pdf]
This PDF activity has students order lists of words with similar meanings from the weakest to the strongest in meaning, select words with strongest meaning to fill in the blanks, make a list of words that mean happy, and then use them to...
English Worksheets Land
English Worksheets Land: 4 Shades of Verbs [Pdf]
Students learn about the differences among action verbs with similar meanings by placing them in order on a graphic organizer.
English Worksheets Land
English Worksheets Land: Plain Words and Fancy Words [Pdf]
Students learn about the differences between words with similar meanings by placing them in the right column of a graphic organizer.
English Worksheets Land
English Worksheets Land: Extreme Verbs Worksheet [Pdf]
Students learn about the differences among action verbs with similar meanings by placing them in order on a graphic organizer from weakest to strongest.
English Worksheets Land
English Worksheets Land: Sorting Through Horrifying and Size Adjectives [Pdf]
Students learn about the differences among adjectives with similar meanings by placing them in order from least to most on a graphic organizer.
English Worksheets Land
English Worksheets Land: Sorting Through Horrifying and Size Adjectives [Pdf]
Learners learn about the differences among words with similar meanings by cutting them out and pasting them in order from most to least on a graphic organizer.
English Worksheets Land
English Worksheets Land: 4 Shades of Verbs 2 [Pdf]
Learners learn about the differences among verbs with similar meanings by placing them in order from least to most on a graphic organizer.
Other
Pb Works: Great Source: Word Choice: The Right Shade of Meaning [Pdf]
This PDF unit is complete with a variety of worksheets providing students practive with choosing the right shade of meaning of synonyms.
Other
K12 Reader: Shades of Meaning: How Many? [Pdf]
A worksheet on which student think of three synonyms for a word and then order them from weakest to strongest.
Other
K12 Reader: Shades of Meaning Weak to Strong Card Set [Pdf]
Six sets of three words with similar definitions but varying shades of meaning. Students cut out the words and place them in order of weakest to strongest.
Other
K12 Reader: Shades of Meaning Card Set [Pdf]
Six sets of three words with similar definitions but varying shades of meaning. Students cut out the words and place them in order of weakest to strongest.
Other
K12 Reader: Shades of Meaning: Strong vs. Weak [Pdf]
A worksheet to build word choice skills by choosing stronger verbs and adjectives to fill in the blanks on the sentences provided.
SMART Technologies
Smart: Synonyms and Antonyms
In this whiteboard activity by SMART, students will define synonyms and antonyms, use a thesaurus to create lists of synonyms and antonyms for a variety of words, and create synonym poems to reinforce learning.