Year 4 Critical thinking: Spring 1 worksheet

“Two Meanings in One Sentence” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 4 critical thinking unit “Critical thinking: Spring 1”, for children aged 8 to 9, and takes about 23 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 13 to 18 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Two Meanings in One Sentence

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 4 · Critical thinking · about 23 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can notice when a word or sentence can mean two different things.

A Look back3 min

1.
Ice lolly sales rise on hot days. What do we call two things that rise together? Circle the answer.
CorrelationAmbiguityAnalogy
2.
A shop sign says: 'Our apples are the best in town.' What does the sign suggest without saying it? Circle the answer.
The shop thinks its apples beat other shopsThe shop is closing todayApples are bad for teeth
3.
A pet shop says: 'Pets make children happy.' Circle who gains if you believe it.
The pet shopThe weatherThe bus driver

B Watch me, then you4 min

A local paper printed: 'Mayor Spots Cows Running Across Field.' Who is running?

Watch me

The headline can mean two things.

1. The cows are running across the field, and the mayor spots them.

2. The mayor is running across the field and spots some cows.

The words do not say which one is meant.

Now you

1.
A headline says: 'Robot Helps Lady With Umbrella.' Write two meanings.

C Your turn7 min

Read each one slowly. Ask yourself: could it mean something else?

1.
Which word can mean a piece of jewellery and also the sound a bell makes? Circle the answer.
cupringchair
2.
Which sentence can mean two things? Circle the answer.
The cat sat on the mat.The teacher saw the girl with the telescope.Bea walked home after school.
3.
Put each sentence in the right column.
Ali saw the bat in the hall.Please bring a pencil to class.Flying planes can be dangerous.Sam ate the cake on the plate.
Two meanings One meaning
4.
Write a short headline that could mean two things. Say both meanings.

Say it out loud: What did the sentences with two meanings have in common?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Sam says: “My sentence is very long and has lots of big words, so it must mean two things.”

1.
Is Sam right? Say why in one sentence.

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Which is more harmful to readers: a headline that is ambiguous, or one that is plainly wrong? Explain in two sentences.

How did it feel?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Two Meanings in One Sentence · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. Correlation If they circle Ambiguity, ask: are there two meanings in the words, or two things rising together?

2. The shop thinks its apples beat other shops If they circle closing or teeth, ask: does the sign say anything about other shops at all?

3. The pet shop If they circle another choice, ask: who sells pets, and who would sell more if you believed the sign?

B

1. Look for: Two different readings: the lady has the umbrella, or the robot has the umbrella. If they write one meaning twice, ask: who could be holding the umbrella? Find a second person or thing.

C

1. ring If they circle cup or chair, ask: can that word be worn on a finger, or be the sound of a bell?

2. The teacher saw the girl with the telescope. If they circle the cat or Bea, ask: who has the telescope? Is it the teacher or the girl?

3. One meaning: Please bring a pencil to class., Sam ate the cake on the plate. · Two meanings: Ali saw the bat in the hall., Flying planes can be dangerous. If the bat or the planes sentence is in One meaning, ask: what could the bat be, or who is flying?

4. Look for: A headline with a word or phrase that has two readings, and both readings stated clearly. If the headline has only one meaning, ask: which word could be read another way?

D

1. Look for: Says length or big words do not create two meanings; ambiguity is about whether the words can be read two ways. If they agree with Sam, ask: does a long sentence always have two readings, or can a short one have them too?

E

1. Look for: A clear reason for either choice, such as ambiguity misleading readers without them noticing, or a wrong headline being plainly false.

Words to use

Say“Read it aloud twice. What else could that mean?”

Instead of“Tell them the headline is a joke, or that they are wrong without asking what they noticed.”

After the sheet

Find a sentence on a cereal box or in a comic and ask together: what else could this mean? Talk about the two meanings.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Spotting Double Meanings(with a plan)
Making claims clear and testable(with a plan)
Is the Slope Slippery?(with a plan)
Is the slope slippery?(with a plan)
Checking Each Link(with a plan)

Every Year 4 critical thinking worksheet

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