Variation of Verb Meanings Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: L.1.5.D

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

There are many words in the English language that basically mean the same thing only to a slightly different degree. If a word has a positive connotation, a word that is roughly a synonym could be more or less positive than that word. A simple example would be the words "like” and "adore”. Both words mean that you have an affinity towards something, "adore” is a much stronger type of affinity. These worksheets will help students understand the level to which words that are synonymous can relate.

Variation of Verbs Worksheets:

What Are You Looking At? – See if you can decipher the level of looking that goes on here.

A Mother's Day Bouquet – See if you can find the strongest words in the bunch.

Thinking Words – We work with the vocabulary words: ponder, contemplate, and deliberate.

Those Are Some Big and Little Words – Words that translate into size.

What's the Difference? – Working off of the title we look at the words: demand, invite, and request.

Word Intensity Worksheet – Find a more intense form of each word.

Adjective and Word Intensity – Pick the words/phrase that means the same thing from the bank below. Circle the word / phrase that is bigger. The first one is completed for you.

At the Campfire – Jim and his friends are roasting marshmallows. The sentences below describe how each boy likes his marshmallow. Match each marshmallow to the correct boy.

Balloons! – What will Zoey's balloons do when she lets them go? Color the balloons whose word describes the way a balloon might move through the sky.

Which One is Working Harder? – These four detectives are hard at work. But two of them are working harder than the others.

Less | Smaller | Weaker – In each of the sentences below, circle the word that will give the weakest meaning to the sentence.

Word Sort – Find out which word fits where.

Word Intensity Worksheet – For each word below, write three attributes (something about the item). The first one has been done for you.

Which One is Stronger? – From each set of sentences below, choose the one that expresses the strongest meaning.

Which Word is Strongest? – From each pair of words, choose the one that expresses the strongest meaning. Write a sentence below using that word.

Halloween Helpers – Help judge the monsters' Halloween contest! Put the words below in order from least intense to most intense. The most intense word in each line is the winner!

Be a Sentence Doctor – Rewrite each sentence below, using a word from the word bank to replace the underlined word(s) and make the meaning stronger.

When Can the Same Verb Have Two Different Meanings?


It is possible for the same verb to have different meanings. Most phrasal verbs can have multiple meanings. Single phrasal verbs with the same spelling and pronunciation can be used differently in sentences. Here are examples of such phrasal verbs.


Turn Around


Turn around is a phrasal verb that can have two different meanings in the sentence. You can guess the context in which it has been used by carefully reading the sentence. It would tell you exactly what meaning has been used.


The first meaning of this phrasal verb is to make something successful. It is used when you have to indicate the success or change of something.


For example,
I hope our leader would come and turn around our failing project.
For the first two years, we were failing at business, but things turned around after the new CEO arrived.


The second meaning of this phrasal verb is to move something into the opposite directions. It is often used as a command in sentences.


For example,
Turn around the car wheels.
Please turn around so that I can dust your back.


Break Off


The phrasal verb break off is often used as a dual meaning verb. The meaning of it depends on the type and context of the sentence.


The first meaning of the phrasal verb break off is to end an association or relationship. It is used to indicate the end of something in sentences.


For example,
They both never got along so they broke off.
You shouldn't break off with an old friend like this.
The second meaning of the phrasal verb break off is to stop an action. It can be used to focus on the fact that something or someone has stopped doing something.


For example,
The car broke off in the middle of the night.
He broke off during his speech.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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