Tag Archives: context clues

It’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day today, so here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective amenable. It means “willing to agree to or accept something that is wanted or asked for,” and that is what the context in the worksheet seeks to elicit.

There is more to this word, however. As Merriam-Webster emphasizes, the “Collegiate Definition” of this word carries a bit more nuance: “liable to be brought to account,” “answerable,” “capable of submission (as to judgment or test)” “suited,” “readily brought to yield, submit, or cooperate,” and, as above, “willing.”

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a context clues worksheet on the verb winnow. It’s used both intransitively and transitively. As I started writing this, I was surprised to learn the complicated set of definitions this word carries.

For this worksheet, I’ve limited the context to elicit the definition shown in the Merriam-Webster widget on my iPad, to wit “to sort or separate something.” This is the meaning of winnow in the vernacular, so I hope it serves students well.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

Here is a context clues worksheet on the noun scuttlebutt. The context provides support for inferring the simplest vernacular meaning of this word, i.e. “rumor” and “gossip.” (But did you know it also means “a cask on shipboard to contain freshwater for a day’s use” and “a drinking fountain on a ship or at a naval or marine installation”? I didn’t.)

This is too slangy a noun, I submit, for use in academic prose–though it would make for some snappy dialogue in, say, something along the lines of a Damon Runyon story. I’m not sure how I ended up with this other than it must of been the Word of the Day on Merriam-Webster at some point.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

It’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day today, so here is a context clues worksheet on the verb tousle. It means “dishevel” and “rumple.” It’s only used transitively, so don’t forget your direct object. You, or someone or something else, must tousle something.

This is one of those words that yields a pair of definitional words that students, particularly English language learners, may not know. Since I just wrote this document this morning, I haven’t used it in a classroom (and may never, since this isn’t a high-frequency or essential academic word). But if I did, I would look for students to be able to articulate from context–which is relatively strong in this worksheet–a general sense of “wrinkle,” or “mess up,” or “tangle,” or something along those lines.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

It’s Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Day today, so here is a context clues worksheet on the adjective callow. It means “lacking adult sophistication” and “immature.” For some reason, this is a word I’ve always liked to use–it seems to me to have an onomatopoeic quality. I think the context is strong, so students will probably infer quickly the meaning of this adjective.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.