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Words can have many meanings

Many words can have more than one meaning; in these vocabulary worksheets, students match different definitions of the same word to the word’s usage in different sentences.

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CAMBRIDGE
ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN USE ADVANCED

UNIT 91

One word, many meanings

Polysemy

A
great many words in English have more than one meaning. Linguists call this
aspect of vocabulary polysemy.

Look
at these sentences and think about how you would translate the words in
italics into your own language.

fair	It’s only fair that we should share the housework. The Frankfurt Book Fair is a very important event for most publishers. The forecast is for the weather to stay fair for the next week. *I’ve got fair* skin and burn easily in the sun. His marks in his final exams ranged from excellent to fair.**
flat	The firefighters managed to save the children from the burning third-floor flat. The countryside round here is terribly flat and boring. To join the Fitness Club, you pay a flat fee of £500. The sonata is in B flat minor. She finished the exercise in five minutes flat.
capital	Fill in the form in capital letters. Wellington is the capital of New Zealand. You need plenty of capital to open a restaurant. Capital punishment has been abolished in many countries.
mean	What does ‘coagulate’ mean? I didn’t mean to hurt you. He’s far too mean to buy her flowers. The mean temperature for July is 25oC. You shouldn’t be so mean to your little sister.

You
probably need a different word to translate fair, flat, capital
and mean in each sentence. Sometimes the meanings are clearly
related – flat as in countryside has a connection with flat as
in apartment in that they both include an idea of being on one level. Sometimes,
however, there is no connection at all. For example, the meaning of fair as
in Book Fair has no obvious connection with any of the other meanings
of fair. Words like this can be called homographs (words with
the same spellings but different meanings).

Being aware of polysemy

It
is useful to be aware of polysemy in English for several reasons.

•
You need to remember that the meaning you first learnt for a word may not be
the one that it has in a new context.

•
You need to be aware that in English, words can sometimes be used as
different parts of speech. Flat with its apartment
meaning, for instance, can become an adjective, e.g. a set of flat keys.

•
Learning about the range of meanings that a word can have can help you to
learn several meanings for the price of one.

•
It will also help you to understand jokes in English, as these are often
based on polysemous words.

Language
help

The
context of a word with multiple meanings will usually make it absolutely
clear which of the word’s possible meanings is intended. So you can
understand what, for example, the noun drill
probably means in (a) a dental context, (b) an army context, (c) a
road-building context, or (d) a languagelearning context.

EXERCISES

91.1

Find
the example sentence in A opposite in which fair, flat, capital or mean has
the following meaning.

1
intend

2
exactly

3
proper, just

4
city with the seat of government

5
light in colour

6
unkind

7
fixed

8
neither very good nor very bad

9
money

10
unwilling to spend money

91.2

What
part of speech is the italicised word in each of the example sentences in A?

Write
a synonym or explanation for each of the examples not used in 91.1.

91.3

Here
are some more examples of polysemous words in English. Which word can fill
all the gaps in each group of sentences?

1
He struck a ____________ and we slowly began to look around the dark cave.

The
teenage cooks in the competition were a ____________ for any of the adults.

Their
marriage has been called a ____________ made in heaven.

2
That bird has an unusually long ____________.

Don’t
forget to keep the receipt when you pay your hotel ____________.

Parliament
is currently discussing a ____________ proposing changes to copyright
legislation.

3
Hannah gave us a lovely ____________ of glasses as a wedding present.

Let’s
now try and ____________ a date for our meeting next week.

My
father has very ____________ opinions about how people should behave.

4
I’ve applied for a ____________ in our company’s Paris office.

The
end of the race is indicated by a ____________ with a flag on it.

Why
not ____________ your query on an online forum? You’re bound to get a quick
response.

5
I didn’t get my assignment back because the teacher hadn’t had time to ____________
it.

Sales
have already passed the million ____________.

You’ve
got a red ____________ on your cheek. It looks like lipstick.

6
You need to be a special kind of person to ____________ a successful
business.

Do
you fancy going for a ____________ this evening?

Thanks
to the hot weather, our shop has had a ____________ on ice cream.

91.4

Look
at the Language help box. What does drill
mean in each of the four contexts suggested?

91.5

What
would the given word be most likely to mean in each of the contexts
suggested? Use a dictionary if necessary.

1	register:	a	a primary school	b	a post office
2	interest:	a	people planning a festival	b	a bank
3	dice:	a	a kitchen	b	people playing a board game
4	service:	a	people playing tennis	b	in a restaurant
5	case:	a	in a lawyer’s office	b	at an airport
6	cue:	a	people playing snooker	b	in the theatre

91.6

Explain
these one-line jokes. They are all based on polysemy.

1
I wondered why the tennis ball was getting bigger. Then it hit me!

2
Smaller babies may be delivered by a stork but the heavier ones need a
crane.

3
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

4
You know prices are rising when you buy a winter jacket and even down is
up.

ANSWER KEY

91.1

1
intend: I didn’t mean to hurt you.
2 exactly: She finished the exercise in five minutes flat.
3 proper, just: It’s only fair that we should share the housework.
4 city with the seat of government: Wellington is the capital of New
Zealand.
5 light in colour: I’ve got fair hair and burn easily in the sun.
6 unkind: You shouldn’t be so mean to your little sister.
7 fixed: To join the Fitness Club you pay a flat fee of £500.
8 neither very good nor very bad: His marks in his final exams ranged from
excellent to fair.
9 money: You need plenty of capital to open a restaurant.
10 unwilling to spend money: He’s far too mean to buy her flowers.

91.2

It’s
only fair: adjective (right)
The Frankfurt Book Fair: noun (large show)
the weather to stay fair: adjective (pleasant)
I’ve got fair skin: adjective (light)
ranged from excellent to fair: adjective (satisfactory)
the burning third-floor flat: noun (apartment)
terribly flat and boring: adjective (level)
a flat fee of £500: adjective (fixed)
B flat minor: noun (♭ =
a note that is a semitone lower than B itself)

in
five minutes flat: adverb (only; emphasises how quick a time is)
in capital letters: adjective (upper case)
the capital of New Zealand: noun (city where the country’s government
sits)
capital to open a restaurant: noun (money)
Capital punishment: adjective (punishable by death)
‘coagulate’ mean: verb (convey a meaning, express an idea)
mean to hurt you: verb (intend)
too mean to buy her flowers: adjective (opposite of generous)
be so mean: adjective (unkind)

91.3

1
match 4 post

2
bill 5 mark

3
set 6 run

91.4

a
an instrument a dentist uses to make holes in your teeth

b
training for marching

c
a powerful tool used for making holes in a road

d
an exercise practising grammar in a fairly mechanical way

91.5

1
a the list on which students are marked present or absent every day
b to send a letter or parcel in a special way so it has protection against
being lost
2 a how much performers might appeal to the public
b money earned on an investment or paid for a loan
3 a to cut up into small cubes (usually vegetables)
b a cube with a number from one to six on each side
4 a throwing the ball into the air and hitting it at the start of a turn
b the attention given to customers by staff
5 a specific problem being dealt with by lawyers
b a piece of luggage
6 a the long stick that players use in snooker or billiards
b the words or actions that tell an actor that it is his or her turn to speak

91.6

1
Then it hit me! This means ‘then I suddenly understood and then the ball
suddenly struck my body.’
2 This is based on the traditional saying that babies are delivered to a home
by a big bird called a
stork. A crane is another kind of large bird rather like a stork. But a crane
can also be a piece of
heavy machinery used to lift heavy objects.
3 In the first sentence, flies is a verb and like is a
preposition – the sentence is comparing the flight
of time with that of an arrow. In the second sentence, flies is a noun
and like is a verb and the
sentence says that fruit flies [very small insects] enjoy bananas.
4 As well as being a preposition, down is the word for very soft
feathers used to stuff, for example,
pillows or winter jackets. If prices are up, they have risen and if
they are down they have fallen.

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Words can have many meanings

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