Context Clues

• Context Clues - words that appear in sentences to help understand the meanings of different words.
• There are 9 types of Context Clues:

  1. By definition
  2. By synonym
  3. By antonym
  4. By comparison
  5. By example
  6. By explanation
  7. By cause-effect
  8. By list or series of clues
  9. By inference
• By definition - The meaning of the word is directly stated.
• By synonym - a similar word is placed in the same sentence to know the meaning of the unfamiliar word.
• By antonym - an opposite word is placed in the same sentence as the unfamiliar wor.
• By comparison - a similar word with the same meaning of the unfamiliar word is placed with an object to be compared. Example: "I'm as carefree about it as a bird floating among the clouds."
• By example - examples are provided in the sentence to understand the meaning of the unfamiliar word.
• By explanation - a description is given to understand the meaning of the unfamiliar word.
• By cause and effect - the meaning of the difficult word depends on the cause - effect relationship of other words as expressed in the sentence.
• By list or series of clues - to understand the meaning of the unknown word, it is included in a series of words given in a sentence.
• By inference - to understand the meaning of the unknown word, one has to make a guess based on the description given in the sentence.