Multiple meanings??

In a past post I've talked about words that sound the same but which are spelt differently. Continuing on the idea, I thought I'd look at words that have more than one meaning. Quite often students will know one meaning of a word, but then are surprised that it has a second or even third common meaning!

So here are just a few:-

Jam - So we have a the fruit sauce which you put on bread or in cakes.

Jam - It's also an action to push something into something firmly and with difficulty.

Eg. 'He jammed all the boxes into the back of his car.'

Jam - When something is stuck in a machine or not moving.

Eg. 'There's a paper jam in the photocopier!'

Season - So there are 4 seasons - Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

Season - to add salt or spices to food you're cooking.

Eg. 'It's important to season your cooking before serving it'.

Draft - a piece of writing which isn't finished.

Eg. ' Please can you read this letter? It's only the first draft.'

Draft - cold air moving across a room.

Eg. ' Can you close the window properly, I can feel a draft?'

Mine - things that belong to the person speaking or writing.

Eg. 'Whose book is this?' 'It's mine'.

Mine - an underground system of passages to dig out coal/minerals.

Eg. The local mine had to close because there was no coal left.

Novel - a book that tells a story about imaginary people/events.

Novel - to describe something new and unusual.

Eg. 'He's created a very novel solution to the problem'.

I could keep going, but the list is endless! So when you learn a new word during your language lessons, it just might be worth asking, 'Does this word have another popular meaning?' You may be surprised! #nativespeaker, #brzegdolnylekcji, #improveyourvocab

Until next time..............