English 209
Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT
What is the best way to learn new vocabulary? The best way to build vocabulary is
to read. Quite simply, the more you read, the more words you will encounter, and
the more words you will become familiar with.
But how can we understand what we are reading if we don’t stop to look up the
words we don’t know? And how do we increase our reading speed if we have to
stop and look up so many words? There are two helpful strategies that can help you
figure out the meaning of words without having to go to the dictionary right away.

Word Part Analysis- Recognize word parts (prefixes, root words, and
suffixes) to help you breakdown the meaning of the word.

Context Clues - Pay attention to the surrounding words and sentences to
make an educated guess about the meaning of the unknown word.
WORD PART ANALYSIS
The Greeks and Romans came up with a system of creating new words from various
and smaller word parts. There are three types of word parts:

Prefixes: A prefix is a word part that is placed at the beginning of a word to
change its meaning. In face, the prefix “pre” means before.

Suffixes: A suffix is a word part that is placed at the end of a word. “Suf,” in
fact, means after. It can change a word’s meaning and/or its function.

Roots: A root word is the main part, or core meaning, of a word, and usually
comes in the middle.
Both a prefix and a suffix are considered an affix because they are both attached,
or affixed, to something else, the root word.
Considering that it has been estimated that 60 percent of our English words in use
today are made up partly or entirely of Latin and Greek prefixes or roots, learning
this system can help us build our vocabulary without depending on a dictionary.
Word parts contribute to the total meaning of a word. Each part has its own
meaning, and the meaning of an unknown word often is a combination of its parts.
Splitting words into parts to discover the meaning of unknown words is called
structural analysis.
Structural Analysis:
Every prefix has its own meaning. When added to a root word, a prefix changes
the meaning of the root word to which it is added.
Example: the root word “purpose” means “an aim or a goal one wishes to
achieve.” By adding the prefix “multi” to “purpose”, the new word
“multipurpose” is formed, meaning “designed for many purposes.
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Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
A suffix is a group of letters which when added to the end of a word, changes the
meaning or the function of the word.
Example 1:
Please= (verb), e.g., I want to please my mother
Please + ure= Pleasure (noun), e.g., Sleeping late gives me pleasure.
Please + ant= Pleasant (adjective), e.g., We had a pleasant dinner together.
Example 2:
Bio = life
-logy = study of
Bio + logy = biology, or the study of life
CONTEXT CLUES
In addition to Word Part Analysis, an alert reader can often figure out the meaning
of unknown words from the context. Context refers to the sentence or sentences
that surround the unknown word. It may include a part of a sentence, a whole
sentence, or even a whole paragraph.
Consider the following:
Yesterday, when I went to the osmotle to buy some wattish for dinner, I saw
a slamret I knew when I was 10 years old. He smiled and was very ovish to
see me, but I was amvish to see him because I had some bad dosilums from
the last time I had seen him.
In the paragraph above, the words in italics are clearly not English, nor any other
known language. But you could probably make an educated guess as to what they
mean. You probably guessed that an osmotle was a type of store and wattish is a
type of food. A slamret is a person, maybe a friend or acquaintance, and ovish
might mean happy. These may not be the precise meanings, but they are pretty
close.
How did you make these guesses? What exactly in the paragraph above helped you
determine these meanings? By understanding the context – the text surrounding
the vocabulary – you could make these guesses, not only about the meaning but
also about the type of word. That is, you probably guessed that osmotle, wattish,
and slamret are nouns while ovish is an adjective.
Types Of Context Clues
As you can see, being able to identify context clues will help you understand new
vocabulary without turning to a dictionary every time. There are four different types
of context clues:
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English 209
Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
1. definition or synonym clues
2. example clues
3. information clues
4. comparison/contrast clues
Definition Clues
A definition clue is context in which the definition of the word is actually provided in
the text. Sometimes the definition is in the form of an explanation while sometimes
it’s in the form of a synonym – a word that means the same thing as another word.
Definition clues are easiest to recognize because they are often set apart in the text
by punctuation or visual clues.

Between or after commas: Computer output, useable information in the form
of text or graphics, is generated by the computer when it processes input
data.

Between dashes: Output devices show people the processed data –
information – in understandable and usable form. (Capron, Computers)

In parentheses: Computers perform millions of instructions per second. To
measure computer speed, we use nanoseconds (billionths of a second).
A definition clue can also follow certain words, such as means, consists of, is called,
or that is. For example: The equipment associated with a computer system is called
hardware. In this example, hardware is the vocabulary word and the underlined
text is its definition.
Example Clues
Example clues are exactly that: examples. Consider the following paragraph and
the vocabulary word, applications.
Most computer applications, such as word processing, are more convenient
to use on a faster machine. Many applications that use graphics and
computations, such as statistical programs, graphic design programs, and
many computer games, require faster machines to produce satisfactory
results. (Beekman, Computer Confluence)
What examples of applications are provided? Based on these examples, what is the
definition of applications?
Information Clues
Often you can understand an unfamiliar word based on the rest of the information
in the surrounding sentences or group of sentences. Sometimes the text itself
explains what the word is or does.
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English 209
Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
Input devices accept data or commands in a form that the computer can use;
they send the data or commands to the processing unit. (Capron,
Computers)
The sentence above explains what input devices do. We can define them, then, as
parts of the computer that accept data in a form that the computer can use.
Contrast Clues
Contrast clues give us a hint as to the meaning of a word by telling us what it is
not. To identify these types of clues, look for words such as:
but
although
however
in contrast to
on the other hand
unlike
E.g., Unlike public domain software, copyrighted software must be purchased
and cannot be copied.
In the sentence above, we know that public domain software is unlike copyrighted
software. The information given about copyrighted software is that it must be
purchased and it cannot be copied. What can we conclude, then, is the meaning of
public domain software?
These two strategies – Word Part Analysis and Context Clues – can be valuable
reading comprehension skills. Keep in mind, though, that sometimes it will be
necessary to consult a dictionary, especially when you need a precise definition or
when you determine that the word is significant to the main ideas of the author.
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Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
Reading Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development (continued)
Word Relationships: Synonyms, Antonyms, Homonyms, Analogies
In some ways words are like families. Just as there are different relationships among members of
the same family, there are different relationships among words. Picture your own family. You probably
have relatives who like to do the same things you do. But they may look nothing like you. You may have
relatives who are from another city. They might have unusual accents and all "sound alike." There are
probably still others who are rebels. They always want the opposite of what everyone else in the family
wants.
There are similar relationships between words. Words that mean the same thing but look different
are called synonyms. Their meanings are very similar (e.g., pretty/cute). An antonym is a word that has
the opposite meaning of another word (e.g., pretty/ugly). A homonym is a word that sounds like another
word but has a different meaning (e.g., there/their).
Because these terms are often confused, here is an easy way to keep them straight.
Heard alike
Same meaning
An opposite
O
Y
N
M
N
T
O
O
O
N
N
N
Y
Y
Y
M
M
M
Words are related in many other ways as well. When thinking about the relationship between two
words, you must examine those words for ways in which they are different, alike, or related to each other.
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Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
Understanding how words fit together helps you expand and network frameworks. As an active
reader, this skill enables you to analyze and synthesize information. Such knowledge is useful in building
your vocabulary. This, in turn, gives you more skill in using the context (see figure below).
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English 209
Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
COMMON ROOT WORDS
ROOTS
ann, enni
anthrop
MEANING
other
love
both ends or all
sides
year
human, man
aqua, aque
arch
arthro
aud
bell
biblio
bio-
water
chief, leader, ruler
joint
sound
war
book
life
brev
cap
carn
ced
short
take, seize
meat
yield, go
chromchron-
color
time
cogn
cord/chord
corp
crac, crat
know
cord
body
rule, ruler
cred
believe
cruc
crusta
crypt
culp
dei
demodent
dermdic
dox
duc, duct
duo
cross
shell
hidden
guilt
god
people
tooth
skin
speak, say
belief, opinion
lead
two
alter
ami, amicamphi
WORD
alternate, alter ego
amiable, amicable
amphibian
anniversary, annual, biennial, perennial
anthropology, anthropomorphic,
misanthrope
aquatic, aquarium, aqueduct
archangel, monarch, archaic, archenemy
arthritis
auditorium, audible, audiologist, audiotape
belligerent, bellicose
bibliography, bibliophile
biography, autobiography, biology,
antibiotic
brief, abbreviate
capture, captivate, capacity
carnivorous, chili con carne
recede, secede, proceed, intercede,
concession
chromatic, monochrome, polychrome
chronicle, chronology, chronometer,
synchronize
recognize, cognitive, incognito
harpsichord
corpus, corpse, corporal
autocrat, democracy, bureaucrat,
democracy
credible, credulous, credibility, credit,
credo
crucifix, crucial
crustacean
cryptogram, cryptology, cryptic
culpable, culprit
deity, deify
demography, democracy, epidemic
dentist, dentifrice, dentin
dermatology, epidermis, hypodermic
dictate, predict, diction, indict
orthodoxy, paradox, heterodoxy
induce, deduce, seduction, conduct, abduct
duo
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Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
dynamego
equ
power
self
equal
fac
fil
frater
gamgeo-
make, do
threadlike
brother
marriage
earth
glyph
grad, gress
graph-
vertical groove
step
writing, printing
gym
gynhemo, hema,
hem
heter,
holo
hydro, hydr
naked
woman
blood
iso
ject
jud
leg, lect
liter
loc
log
luc
magn
man
mar
mater
mere
meta, met
metri, metermin
mit, miss
mob, mot, mov
mon
mor, mort
morph
mut
Different
whole, entire
water
dynamo, hydrodynamics
egotist, egomania
equal, equity, equanimity, equate,
equidistant
manufacture, factory, benefactor
filament
fraternal, fraternize
monogamy, polygamy, bigamy
geopolitical, geology, geography,
geothermal
Hieroglyphics—Egyptian “sky writing”
gradual, progression, transgression
graphology, biography, telegraph,
geography
gymnasium
gynecologist, androgynous
hemophilia, hematology, hemoglobin
heterosexual
holograph
dehydrate, hydraulics, hydroelectric,
hydroplane
equal, identical
isolate
throw
inject, reject, subject, projection
judge
judicial, judge, adjudicate
read, choose
legible, lectern, lecturer, election
letter
literature, illiterate, literal
place
local, location
word
monologue, epilogue
light
lucid, elucidate
large
magnify, magnate, magnificent
hand
manufacture, manual, manuscript
sea
marine, mariner
mother
maternal, maternity, matriarchy, matricide
part, segment
mere
behind, between
metacognition—behind the thinking
measure
geometric, thermometer, odometer
small
minority, minuscule, minute
send
permit, submission, mission, emit,
move
mobile, automobile, motion, promote,
movie
warn
premonition, admonition
death
mortal, mortician, immortality
form, structure
metamorphosis, amorphous, morphology
change
mutant, mutability, mutate
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English 209
Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
neuro
nomen /nomin
nov
nym, onym
odonto
orthopac
pater
path
ped, pod
pel, puls
pend
phon-, phonoplan
pneum
pod
port
pot
psychpugna
quer, quis
scent, scend
schizo, schiz
sci
sciss
scrib, script
sec, sect
sed, sess
sens, sent
sequ, secu
serv
simil
siphon
sol
son
soph
spec, spic
spir
spir
nerve
name
new
word, name
neurology, neurosis, neurobiology
nominal, nominate, nomenclature
novel, renovate, innovation, novella
synonym, acronym, anonymous,
pseudonym
tooth
orthodontist—one who straightens teeth
straight, correct
orthodox, orthodontist, orthopedic
peace
pacify, Pacific Ocean, pacifist
father
paternal, paternity, patricide, patrilineal,
patriotic
feeling, suffering
sympathy, apathy, empathy, telepathy,
pathology
foot
pedal, pedometer, centipede, gastropod
push
pulsate, repulsive, impulse, compel, propel
hang, weigh
pendulum, pendant, suspend, pending
sound, voice
telephone, euphony, cacophony,
phonograph
flat
planar, plantation, plane
lung
pneumatic
feet
podiatrist
carry
portable, transport, portage, report,
power
potent, omnipotent, potentate
soul, spirit, mind
psychology, psychic, psychobiography
fight
pugnacious, pugilist
ask
query, inquisition,
climb
ascend, ascent
division, split
schizophrenic
know
scientific
cut
scissors
write
manuscript, scribe, proscribe, scripture
cut
dissect, section
sit
sedentary, session
feel, be aware
sensible, sentient
follow
sequence, sequel, consecutive
serve, protect
service
same
similar, assimilate, simile, facsimile (fax)
tube
siphon
sun
solar
sound
sonar, resonate, unison
wisdom,
philosophy, sophisticated, sophomore
knowledge
(wise fool)
look, see
spectacles, spectator, inauspicious,
prospect
coil
spiral
breathe
inspire, respiration, conspire, perspiration
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Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
spond, spons
spont
stat
tang, tact
temp
ten, tent
terr
theo
thermtrophy
uro
vac
ven, vent
ver
vert
vit
voc
promise, answer
for
by one's own force
stay, position
touch
time
hold
earth
god, deity
heat
nutrition, food
urine
empty
come, go
truth
turn
life
call
zoo
animal
respond, responsible
spontaneous
station
tactile, tangible
temporary, temporize
tentative, tenable, tenuous
subterranean, terrain, terrestrial, disinter
theology, polytheism, atheist, monotheism
thermal, thermos, thermometer
atrophy—without nutrition
urologist
vacation, vacuum, vacuous, vacant
intervene, convene, contravene
veracity, verify, verity
introvert, irreversible, vertigo
vital, revitalize, vitamin
revoke, invocation, vocal, evocative,
convocation
zoo, zoology, zoolatry
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English 209
Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
PREFIXES
PREFIX
a-, anabadambianaantiapoauto-
MEANING
not, without
away from
to, toward
both
up, back, again
against
from, away
from
self
benecata-, catcentro, centricircumcomconcontradedia-, didisdyseectoen-, emendoepiesoeuexhetero-
good
down, against
around, center
around
with, together
with, together
against
down, away
through, across
apart, not
ill, difficult, bad
out of, from
on the outside
in
within, inside
upon
inward, within
well, good
out of, from
other, different
homohyperhypoilimiminininterintrair-
same
over
under
not
not
into
not
into
between
within
not
EXAMPLES
amoral, anesthetic, apolitical, asocial
abduction, abstain, abnormal
adjoin, adjacent (lying near to)
ambidextrous, ambivalent
analogy, anatomy, anagram
antipathy, antiwar, antisocial
apology, apologize
autobiography, automobile, autocracy,
automaton
benediction benevolent benefactor
catastrophe--a turning down
concentric, centrifugal
circumlocution circumference, circumvent
communal, community
connect, confide conspire
contradict, contravene
descend, deject (cast down)
diameter, division
disengage, discord, discomfort
dysfunctional, dysentery
elect (choose out of), eject (throw out)
ectoderm--outer skin
empathy--feeling in
endoscope--instrument for observing inside
epitaph epidermis, epicenter
esoteric--more inward, esophagus
euthanasia--good death
exhume, exhale, exodus
heterosexual, heterodoxy, heterodox
heterogeneous
homosexual, homogeneous, homogenized
hypertension, hypersensitive, hyperactivity
hypotension, hypodermic
illegitimate, illicit, illegal, illegible
imperfect, impolite, impossible
imbibe (drink in, take in)
indiscreet, invisible
incorporate (take into the body)
intervene (come between), interstate
intrastate, intramural
irregular, irrational, irredeemable
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Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
macromal, male(sometimes melo)
metamicromono-
large
bad, evil, dark
macrocosm, macroeconomics
malediction malevolent, malnutrition
beyond
small
one, single
neo-
new, recent
obpalin-, palipan-
against
back, again
all, every
paraper-
false
through
periphil-, philo-
around
like, lover of
polypostprepropros-
many, several
after
before
for, forward
toward, in front
protopseudo
reretrosesubsur-, super-
first
false
again, back
back
away from
under
over, above
syn-, sym-, syl-,
systeletrans-
with, together
metaphysical
microscope, microcosm, microeconomics
monologue, monotheism, monarchy,
monogamy
neologism, neo-liberal, neonatology.
neolithic
object, obstruct (build against)
palindrome
pantheism, Pan-Hellenic, panorama,
pandemic
paramilitary, paralegal, parachute
percolate (flow through) perforate (punch
through)
perimeter, periscope
philosophy, Francophile, bibliophile,
philanthropy
polygon, polygamy, polytechnic, polytheism
postgraduate, posthumous postpone
precede, predict (tell before)
promote, project
prospect—view in front, something coming
up
prototype, protoplasm, protobiology
pseudonym, pseudoscience
repeat, recede, regress (step back)
retrogression, retroactive
seduce (lead away), secede
submarine, subject, subhuman subterranean
superhuman, superego, superintend,
surpass
symphony, synonym, system, syllable
distant, far off
across
telephone, telepathy, television, telegram
transient, Transatlantic, transport (carry
across)
SUFFIXES
SUFFIX
-agog, agogue
DEFINITION
leader
EXAMPLE
demagogue, pedagogue
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Reading and Writing Concept Handout: Vocabulary Development
Analyze Words and Important Concepts
- ate
-cide
-ectomy
-ia, -y
-ic, -tic, -ical, ac
-ics
acted upon
kill(ing)
cutting
act, state
having to do with
-isk, -iscus
-ism
things having to do
with
small
the belief in
-ist
-ite
-logy
-oid
-or, -er
-phobia
one who believes in
one connected with
study field of
resembling, like-shaped
one who takes part in
exaggerated fear
-sis
act, state, condition of
eliminate, elongate, demonstrate
patricide, infanticide, herbicide. suicide
appendectomy, splenectomy
amnesia, mania, democracy, anarchy
anthropomorphic, dramatic, biblical,
cardiac
optics, physics
asterisk--a little star
pacifism, terrorism, socialism,
communism
pacifist, terrorist, socialist, communist
meteorite, polite, cosmopolite
biology, geology, etymology, cardiology
asteroid, spheroid
doctor, actor, teacher, driver
photophobia, claustrophobia,
agoraphobia
analysis
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