How can you tell they’ve got it: Shades of Meaning?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: Compare similar verbs by acting them out (e.g. 'walk', 'march', 'strut', 'prance'); Order adjectives by intensity (e.g. big, huge, gigantic); Connect vocabulary to personal experiences (e.g. note things at school that are 'colourful'). Or just try it together: Does your child notice the difference between similar words — for example, knowing that "scorching" is stronger than "warm," or that "trotted" is different from "sprinted"?

English Vocabulary Ages 5–9

Shades of Meaning

Your child can feel the difference between close words — like walk, march and strut, or big, huge and giant.

In curriculum terms

Distinguish shades of meaning among verbs describing similar actions and among adjectives differing in intensity; make real-life connections between words and their use

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Compare similar verbs by acting them out (e.g. 'walk', 'march', 'strut', 'prance')
Order adjectives by intensity (e.g. big, huge, gigantic)
Connect vocabulary to personal experiences (e.g. note things at school that are 'colourful')

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Try this together

Does your child notice the difference between similar words — for example, knowing that "scorching" is stronger than "warm," or that "trotted" is different from "sprinted"?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Sorting & Categorising Wordsages 5–8Categorisation supports understanding shades of meaning

Shades of Meaningthis skill · ages 5–9

Unlocks

Antonyms & Synonymsages 9–11Synonym and antonym work builds on shades of meaning; learners must distinguish intensity gradations before systematically relating words through synonym/antonym relationships

Expressive and Sensory Languageages 6–9Shades of meaning support appreciating literary word choices

Literal vs Figurative Languageages 8–9Understanding figurative language connects to distinguishing shades of meaning

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 2 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E3LA07medium confidenceYear 3 · Language

understand how verbs represent different processes for doing, feeling, thinking, saying and relating

AC9E1LA07low confidenceYear 1 · Language

understand that words can represent people, places and things (nouns, including pronouns), happenings and states (verbs), qualities (adjectives) and details such as when, where and how (adverbs)

AC9E2LA07low confidenceYear 2 · Language

understand that in sentences nouns may be extended into noun groups using articles and adjectives, and verbs may be expressed as verb groups

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

EN3-VOCAB-01low confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 3

EN1-SPELL-01low confidenceEnglish K-10 · Stage 1

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E3LA07medium confidenceEnglish · Level 3 · Language strand

VC2EFLA06medium confidenceEnglish · Foundation · Language strand

VC2E1LA07medium confidenceEnglish · Level 1 · Language strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Discussing and Questioning New Wordsages 5–11 Sorting & Categorising Wordsages 5–8 Using New Vocabularyages 5–9 Word Parts as Cluesages 5–8

All Vocabulary skills →