Name: ___________________ Class:_______________ Date:_____________________
Warm Up. Read the following sentences, paying particular attention to the underlined words. (5 min)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Katie appeared infallible in math class because she had never gotten a problem incorrect.
A sleuth, such as Sherlock Holmes, can be very helpful in solving crimes.
The book contained many conundrums, or mind-exercising problems.
Two new girls started school this week. Beth has a gregarious attitude, while Jenna is rather quiet.
Describe how you could figure out the meanings of the underlined words.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Aim: SWBAT identify context clues and use them to uncover the meaning of a word.
Class Notes: (7 min)
Clue words can help you make meaning from the context. It is important to recognize that
sometimes the clue words will be absent or be used differently, but when they are featured in the
sentence, it will help you to notice them and make use of them.
Clue Word
Clue word for…
Example in a
sentence
 “Is”
 “means”
“I went to sleep in the
hammock, a giant
spread of fabric
hanging from tree to
tree, and I didn’t wake
up ‘til morning.”
 “but”
 “not”
 “unlike”
“Ed was known for
being cantankerous,
unlike his goodnatured brother.”
“Chortling like giggling
can be positive or
negative?”
“Different ceremonies,
such as weddings and
funerals, were held
there.”
“meaning”
 an apostrophe (comma
sandwich)

 “Like”
 “such as”




:
lists
“including”
“such as”
Guided Practice (3 min)
Directions: Write the context clue and the type of context clue it is. Then write what you
think the word means.
1. “The room was full of her kin, such as her brother, sister, aunt, grandmother, and cousins.”
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
1
Complete with your Partner (6)
1. “He was wearing a burnoose, a scarf worn around the head.”
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
2. “She said the music would be cacophonous but it sounded beautiful to me.”
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
3. “There was a bowl full of citrus fruits like oranges, lemons, and limes.”
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
4. “Tell me about your dreams like what you want from your future or things you would like to
do in your life.
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
2
Name: ___________________ Class:_______________ Date:_____________________
Directions: Read the article below and then fill in the tables on the back with the context
clues, type of clues, and the likely meaning of bolded word.
“Punctuality”
Punctuality, being on time, is a popular character trait. It is prized by doctors and dentists.
Patients who are late mess up their schedules and cause other patients to have longer
waiting times. Teachers enjoy punctuality as well. Late students disrupt the flow of the class
and may miss important information. Friends appreciate punctuality, too! No one likes to be
kept waiting. Punctuality is the act of being on time. The opposite of punctuality is tardiness.
It is a sign of respect to be on time; it is disrespectful to be late.
Some people are always late. They seem disorganized, unlike people who keep
everything neat and tidy. Maybe they lose track of time. Maybe they get distracted by
other things such as getting lost on the way, shiny pennies on the floor, or stopping to talk to
friends. It doesn't matter what the excuse is, being late annoys those kept waiting. Have you
ever had to wait for a friend to show up so that you could do something fun? Have you had
a birthday party where you kept waiting for a tardy friend to finally show up? Have you ever
stood waiting after school for your ride home, wondering whether you had been forgotten?
You know how it feels to watch the clock and wonder what happened to the person who is
supposed to meet you. Since you know how it feels, you should be careful not to do that to
others.
3
Directions: Fill in the tables based on the article “Punctuality.”
Unknown word
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
Punctuality
Unknown word
distracted
Unknown word
disorganized
4
Name: ___________________ Class:_______________ Date:_____________________
Directions: Read the article below and then fill in the tables on the back with the context
clues, type of clues, and the likely meaning of bolded word.
“Bonnie and Clyde”
Bonnie and Clyde were notorious criminals, not people who no one had every heard of.
They robbed stores and banks. They murdered innocent people and even police officers. At
the end of their two-year crime spree, they died, shot by police officers. Their story was frontpage news.
Unlike most front-page crime stories, the story of Bonnie and Clyde was not
forgotten the next day. It went on to become a legend, which means the story
of Bonnie and Clyde has never died.
Bonnie and Clyde were growing up just as our country was going into the
Great Depression. Bonnie's and Clyde's families were poor, like most everyone
else at that time in history.
Then Bonnie met Clyde. She knew that Clyde was already involved in petty
(like minor) crimes, but both of them felt that they were entitled to more than a
life of poverty, and they didn't see anything wrong with robbing a store once in
a while to get what they wanted.
It wasn't much of a surprise when Clyde ended up in jail. It wasn't the end of
Clyde's crime spree either; it was only the beginning. Bonnie helped Clyde
escape by smuggling a gun into Clyde's jail cell. Clyde escaped with Bonnie.
Now they were both wanted criminals.
They took off together. Bonnie and Clyde traveling fast in stolen cars,
stealing what they needed along the way. They knew that their life of crime
couldn't last forever, but they wanted to make it last as long as they could
because they were both determined: driven and motivated. They didn't let
anything stand in their way. They didn't let anybody stand in their way either.
5
Directions: Fill in the tables based on the article “Bonnie and Clyde.”
Unknown word
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
Context Clue
Type of Clue
Word and Meaning
notorious
Unknown word
legend
Unknown word
petty
Unknown word
6
determined
Teacher Notes:
We have four main types of context that we will be looking at today. First is definition. Sometimes the
definition is given right in the sentence. An example of this would be “I went to sleep in the hammock, a
giant spread of fabric hanging from tree to tree, and I didn’t wake up ‘til morning.” Here hammock means
a giant spread of fabric hanging where people sleep.
When the definition is given in context, we sometimes see the words is and means. It is important to not
that clue words only appear sometimes, but when we see them it can be helpful to focus in on them as
clues to finding the answer.
The second type of context is antonyms. When the opposite of a word is given to us, it can help us to find
the meaning of the unfamiliar vocabulary word.
Synonyms are words that mean the same or almost the same thing as the unfamiliar vocabulary word.
Using synonyms can really help us when we find them in the context of the sentence with our unfamiliar
vocabulary word.
The last context clue we will talk about today is examples. When a sentence gives us examples of the
unfamiliar vocabulary word, we can understand the meaning but summarizing those examples under one
title. That title is our unfamiliar vocabulary word.
Clue Word
Clue word for…
Example in a sentence
“Is”
“means”
“meaning”
an apostrophe (comma
sandwich)
definition – The author
provides the meaning of
the word in the sentence.
“I went to sleep in the
hammock, a giant spread of
fabric hanging from tree to
tree, and I didn’t wake up
‘til morning.”
“but”
“not”
“unlike”
antonym – Other words
that mean the opposite
are used to show contrast
in the same sentence.
“Ed was known for being
cantankerous, unlike his
good-natured brother.”
7
“Like”
“such as”
synonym – Other words
that mean the same or
almost the same are used
in the same sentence.
“Chortling like giggling
can be positive or
negative?”
:
lists
“including”
“such as”
examples – The author
illustrates a word by
showing similar things.
“Different ceremonies, such
as weddings and funerals,
were held there.”
8