Vocabulary: context clues, word parts, and figurative language (grade 5) · lesson

Context clues

💡 The sentences around a word give clues to its meaning, including which meaning a word with two meanings has.

A context clue can be an example, a cause, a contrast, or a definition. Often the next sentence explains the new word.

Some words are spelled the same but said in two ways, with two meanings. Lead can be a metal or can mean to guide. The sentence tells you which one.

Try your meaning in place of the word. If the sentence makes sense, you have it.

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Read: The fox was elusive. Every time the hunters got close, it slipped away.

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💡 Many English words are built from Greek and Latin parts, so knowing the parts unlocks the word.

A root carries the main meaning. Bio means life. Aud means hear. Vis means see. Graph means write.

Prefixes and suffixes add to the root. Pre- means before. -ible and -able mean able to be. -logy means the study of.

Put the meanings together. Vis + -ible means able to be seen. Zoo (animal) + -logy means the study of animals.

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Word: geography.

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💡 An analogy shows that two pairs of words are linked in the same way.

Synonyms mean almost the same. Antonyms are opposites.

An analogy compares two pairs: Big is to large as fast is to quick. Big and large mean the same, so fast and quick must mean the same too.

Pairs can link in other ways too: a worker and what they make, a part and the whole, or a tool and what it does.

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Analogy: Petal is to flower as ___ is to tree.

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💡 Figurative phrases mean more than their words, so think about the picture and what it shows.

A metaphor says one thing is another: The kitchen was a furnace means the kitchen was very hot.

An idiom is a phrase whose meaning is different from its words. Hit the books means study.

A proverb is an old saying that gives advice. Don't cry over spilled milk means don't get upset about small things you can't change.

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Idiom: Kim was in hot water with her mom.

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