Word Meanings & Context Clues

Word Meanings & Context Clues

By: Mrs. Bolton

Context Clues

Use these to uncover unfamiliar words

Sometimes when you are reading you might run across an unfamiliar word. When this happens, you can use context clues to help figure out the meaning of the word. Context clues are hints in the text that help you figure out a word.

Monitor for Meaning

Inferences

What you already know + text clues = inferences

-Take bits and pieces of information from the text that, when combined with what you already know, allows you to figure out the meaning of unknown words in the story or article you are reading.

-As a reader you must act similar to a detective and put clues from sentences surrounding an unknown word in order to make an intelligent "guess" about what the definition of the word is. ​

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Schema

Multiple Choice

How do context clues help you figure out the meaning of an unknown word?

• They don't help, they are just distractions

• You take what you already know and combine it with text clues to make an inference.

• You apply schema to every word of the text.

• None of the above

Multiple Choice

After they were caught in the middle of a howling thunderstorm, the children hurriedly sought refuge, a place where they could be safe from the rain. What does refuge mean?

• A place where they could be safe from the rain.

• howling thunderstorm

• hurriedly sought

• None of the above

Fill in the Blank

Type the answer below. Look at the sentence and using the context clues, tell me what DUDEEN means.

The dudeen - a short stemmed clay pipe - is found in Irish folk tales.

Example Context Clues

Sometimes an author will give you an example of a word

A specific example can often be used to clarify the meaning of the word.

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​Celestial bodies, including the sun, moon, and stars, have fascinated men throughout centuries. Sun, moon, and stars are the examples provided that tell me celestial means "in the sky" or "heavens."

Multiple Choice

The Rocky Mountain National Park is home to many different types of terrain. Some places have wide, open meadows. Other areas are inhabited by evergreen trees and mountain lakes. There are also areas filled with glaciers.

What does the word terrain mean?

• wide open meadows

• evergreen trees and mountain lakes

• basins with glaciers

• natural features of an area

Fill in the Blank

Piscatorial creatures, such as flounder, salmon, and trout, live in the coldest parts of the ocean. What does piscatorial mean?

Multiple Choice

Flooded with spotlights - the focus of all the attention - the new Miss America began her year-long reign. She was the cynosure of all eyes for the rest of the evening.

What does cynosure mean?

• Flooded with spotlights

• The focus of all the attention

• the new Miss America

• rest of the evening

Multiple Choice

The mountain pass was a tortuous road, winding and twisting like a snake around the trees of the mountainside. What does tortuous mean?

• mountain pass

• winding and twisting

• snake

• trees

Multiple Choice

The children were as different as night and day. He was a lively conversationalist, but she was reserved and taciturn. What does taciturn mean?

• someone who says little and is quiet

• someone who is a lively conversationalist

• different as night and day

• a gymnasts

Making Inferences

Sometimes you just have to look at the words around the unknown word and make the best inference on what the word means. You can look at the mood the author set to help determine the meaning of the word, and any other sufficient clues around the word.

Drawing Inferences

Multiple Choice

When Kiki got a tiny cut on her pinky finger, she got all melodramatic and began sobbing and demanding to go to the hospital. What does melodramatic mean?

• The state of being exaggeratedly (or theatrically) dramatic

• Acting selfish and crude

• When an actor is good at acting

• The state of being intensely irritated or frustrated

Multiple Choice

Max was sick of the quarreling, bickering, and fighting between his two best friends. What does quarreling mean?

• A profoundly tender affection for another person.

• An angry argument or altercation.

• To alight or rest upon a perch.

• A battle or combat.

Multiple Choice

A combination of fog and industrial smoke, called smog, has vitiated the air in and around many big cities.

What is the best definition for the word vitiated?

• concentrated

• big cities

• smog

• contaminate

Fill in the Blank

Your turn! Based on the context clues provided, write the definition for the word indigenous as it is used in the sentence.

There is a large demand all over the United States for plants indigenous to the desert. Many people in Arizona have made good business of growing and selling cacti and other local plants.

Fill in the Blank

Your turn! Based on the context clues provided, write the definition for the word millennium as it is used in the sentence.

After the Romans left, a millennium and a half passed before people again lived in such comfort. Churchill wrote, "From the year 400 until the year 1900 no one had central heating and a very few had hot baths."