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Hello! I am Studyfin, your learning buddy. Today, we will become word detectives and find the meanings of tricky new words!
Sometimes you find a word you do not know. You do not need a dictionary right away! You can look at the other words nearby to find clues.
Context clues are the words and sentences around an unknown word. They act like searchlights to show you what the word means.
Look for antonyms, which are opposite words. If a sentence says, 'Unlike his quiet sister, Leo was very clamorous,' we know 'clamorous' must mean noisy!
✏️ Worked example
Let us find the meaning of the word 'sluggish' in this sentence: 'The cold weather made the fast rabbit very sluggish, so he crawled slowly to his warm nest.'
- First, find the tricky word. The word is 'sluggish'.
- Next, look for words that show a change or opposite. The word 'so' tells us that the weather caused a change.
- Look at what the rabbit did. He 'crawled slowly'. This is our main context clue!
- Compare 'crawled slowly' to the rabbit's normal 'fast' speed.
- Combine the clues. If the cold made a fast rabbit crawl slowly, then 'sluggish' must mean slow and moving with little energy.
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