Published August 15, 2022 Show
 When you come across an unfamiliar word while reading, how do you try to understand its meaning? Chances are you use context clues—even if you’ve never heard of that term. Faced with a sea of unfamiliar words, beginning readers learn many techniques for decoding words and expanding their vocabularies. Teachers use the term decoding to refer to the ability to see a written word and read it aloud. Looking for context clues is one technique that is helpful for readers of all ages and experience levels. But how can you identify a context clue? What are context clues?The term context clues is used as a way of referring to the bits of information within a text that can serve as hints to help a reader understand the meaning of an unfamiliar or unusual word or passage. In effect, context clues can be anything that helps you to figure out or guess the meaning of a word or passage when you’re unsure of its meaning. Context clues can be part of the same sentence or they may be part of the text that comes before or follows. Because most of our vocabulary is gained through reading, it is important that we are able to recognize and take advantage of context clues. WATCH: Words Bookworms Mispronounce Because We Read Them FirstWhat does a context clue look like?There are at least four kinds of context clues that are quite common:
There may also be word-part context clues in which a common prefix, suffix, or root will suggest at least part of the meaning of a word. A general sense context clue lets the reader puzzle out a word meaning from whatever information is available—and this is the most common kind of context clue. The relationships between words are not directly obvious and instead implied. Others describe context clues in three ways:
If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website. If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked. Glossary of Terms and Terminology Relating to Using Context Clues to Determine the Meaning of Words and Phrases
Learning Vocabulary With Clues and ContextAlthough guessing the correct answer is not a good test taking strategy, there are times when an educated guess may be the only choice that you have. One such time is when you are asked to know the meaning of a word and you are not certain of its meaning. At these times, you may feel completely baffled and without a clue. Fortunately, there are a couple of things that you can do when you feel this way. Some of the strategies that you can and should use when this occurs include:
Examining a Word's RootThe root of a word, also referred to as the base of a word and the stem of a word, is the main part of a word without any syllables before the root of the word, which is a prefix, or after the root of the word, which is a suffix. For example, examine the word "reinstatement". The root of the word is "state"; the prefix for the word reinstatement is "re" and the suffix for the word "reinstatement" is "ment". You will learn more about prefixes, suffixes and stems of words in the section immediately below this one. Attempting to Decipher a Word's Meaning by Examining the Word in ContextSimply defined, the context of an unknown word is the words, phrases, clauses and sentences surrounding the unknown word. These words, phrases, clauses and sentences can often give you some very important clues about the word and these clues may be just enough for you to make an educated guess about the true meaning of the word. For example, examine this sentence and determine the meaning of "dubious": "Although some believe in the existence of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and the existence of extraterrestrial life, more are dubious about these things." When you examine the word "dubious” in the context of this sentence, you should be able to make some inferences and educated guesses about the meaning of the word "dubious". The meaning of this word is to be doubtful. This inference and educated guess can be arrived at by comprehending and understanding the context within which the word occurred. This sentence states that "some believe in the existence of unidentified flyer objects and the existence of extraterrestrial life" but still more are doubtful about these things. The word "although" in this sentence is also an important clue because it suggests that the opposite of "some believe" is "more are dubious" meaning more are doubtful. Here are a couple of more sentences with which you should be able to decipher and discover the meaning of some unknown words:
Sentence: In addition to the flora and fauna in Australia, its indigenous creatures include some of the most interesting vertebrates including marsupials. The word "indigenous" means native to a particular area like Australia; and drawing on your prior knowledge of Australia, you may remember that kangaroos are native to Australia and your educated guess about the meaning of marsupial should be a classification of animals that includes kangaroos.
Sentence: It would be a good idea to complement this meal with a nice desert. The words "complement" and "compliment" are homophones that are pronounced the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. When these words are spoken orally, they sound identical and, when they are written, they appear differently because they are spelled differently. In the context of this sentence, the word "complement" means complete the meal off. If you did not know that "complement" with an "e" indicates completion, you should be able to deduce the meaning of "complement" with an "e" in the context of the sentence.
Sentence: Everyone likes a compliment for a job well done. Again, the words "complement" and "compliment" are homophones that are pronounced the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings. When these words are spoken orally, they sound identical and, when they are written, they appear differently because they are spelled differently. In the context of this sentence, the word "compliment" means a favorable comment about another. If you did not know that "compliment" with an "i" indicates a favorable comment, you should be able to deduce the meaning of "compliment" with an "i" in the context of the sentence. Discovering the Meaning of a Word by Examining the Surrounding Text for Antonyms, Synonyms, and ContronymsAntonyms are words that have opposite meanings and synonyms are words that have the same meaning. Like synonyms, antonyms can be a noun, verb, adjective or adverb. For example, here is a list of antonyms:
And, here is a list of synonyms:
Less commonly referred to and referenced are contronyms. Similar to antonyms and synonyms, contronyms can give valuable clues in terms of the meaning of an unknown word. Simply defined, a contronyms are words that are spelled the same but they have different meanings. The only way to determine the meaning of a word that is a contronym is to look for its meaning in the context of the phrase or sentence. An example of a contronym is skip which can be a verb meaning a hop and skip can also be a verb meaning omit. Other contronyms include:
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Alene Burke, RN, MSN Alene Burke RN, MSN is a nationally recognized nursing educator. She began her work career as an elementary school teacher in New York City and later attended Queensborough Community College for her associate degree in nursing. She worked as a registered nurse in the critical care area of a local community hospital and, at this time, she was committed to become a nursing educator. She got her bachelor’s of science in nursing with Excelsior College, a part of the New York State University and immediately upon graduation she began graduate school at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Adelphi with a double masters degree in both Nursing Education and Nursing Administration and immediately began the PhD in nursing coursework at the same university. She has authored hundreds of courses for healthcare professionals including nurses, she serves as a nurse consultant for healthcare facilities and private corporations, she is also an approved provider of continuing education for nurses and other disciplines and has also served as a member of the American Nurses Association’s task force on competency and education for the nursing team members. Latest posts by Alene Burke, RN, MSN (see all) What helps readers determine the correct pronunciation of a word?Context is a very important aid to word analysis and comprehension. It helps to determine word pronunciation and meaning.
Which function of language best expresses whether a statement is true or false?Booleans ¶ This is the simplest type. A bool expresses a truth value. It can be either true or false .
What are the most likely meanings of the idiom we'll cross that bridge when we come to it select two options quizlet?What are the most likely meanings of the idiom "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it"? Select two options. We are not going to do that yet. We will talk about that problem if and when it happens.
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Process of using where a word appears in a sentence to determine meaning of the word
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