Grade 5

Word detective

Context clues and word parts. Part of reading and writing.

Word detective

Context clues and word parts · Alberta Grade 5 · maddyhelps.com

Name
Date

For each sentence, work out what the bold word means from the words around it, and underline the clue that gave it away. Then build a new word from each prefix.

The hikers were famished after the long climb, so they ate everything in the cooler.

famished means

The instructions were ambiguous — even the teacher was not sure what they meant.

ambiguous means

Ravi was reluctant to jump into the cold lake and stood on the dock for ten minutes.

reluctant means

The old barn was so dilapidated that the roof sagged and the walls leaned.

dilapidated means

Prefix	Means	Add it to
un-	not	kind
re-	again	build
pre-	before	heat
mis-	wrongly	spell
dis-	opposite of	agree

For the grown-up

Word detective

famished: very hungry; ambiguous: unclear, or open to more than one meaning; reluctant: unwilling, holding back; dilapidated: falling apart. Clues: ate everything; not even the teacher was sure; stood on the dock for ten minutes; the roof sagged. Words: unkind, rebuild, preheat, misspell, disagree.

The clue is the point, not the definition. A child who can say stood on the dock for ten minutes told them what reluctant means has a strategy that works on every word they will ever meet.

Why this matters is on the reading and writing page. More sheets