Focus on Vocabulary: Use Context Clues
For Multiple-Meaning Words
Many English words have multiple, or more than one, meaning. The meaning depends upon the situation, or how the word is used in a sentence.
| EXAMPLE | Please put the glass on the table. (table = furniture) This table shows the state capitals. (table = chart) |
These multiple-meaning words have the same spelling and sound but different meanings. When you see a word that doesn’t make sense in the situation, it probably has more than one meaning.
How the Strategy Works
When you read a word that has more than one possible meaning, use context clues to help you figure out which meaning fits best in that situation.
| EXAMPLE | Tomas is a big fan of baseball. He has followed the sport enthusiastically for years. |
1. Think about the topic of the text where the word appears.
2. Look in the same sentence for clues to the word’s meaning.
3. Next, look for clues in the sentences that come before and after.
4. Check a dictionary to find the meaning that makes the most sense.
Use the strategy to figure out the meaning of each underlined word.
Strategy in Action
“ I think roots are parts of plants. But that makes no sense. The topic is baseball. The context says the mother always roots for the same team and hates it when they lose. Roots must mean something like hoping a team will win. ”
REMEMBER You can use context clues to figure out the meanings of multiple-meaning words.