Which term means clues in the text that help determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word?

Which term means clues in the text that help determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word?

• A. Thesaurus
• B. Foreshadow
• C. Genre
• D. Context clues

Answer: (D)

Using context clues helps you figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word by paying attention to the words and sentences around it. The clues live right in the text, showing descriptions, contrasts, or examples that point to what the word means. So the term that names these hints is context clues. For example, if a sentence says, “The parched field drank in the rainless sun,” you can infer that parched means extremely dry by looking at how the surrounding words describe moisture and heat. That’s the idea behind context clues: you use nearby information to unlock the meaning of a new word. A thesaurus is a tool for finding synonyms and antonyms, foreshadow is about hints of what will happen later in a story, and genre is the category of the text, none of which describe the clues you use to determine word meaning.

Using context clues helps you figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word by paying attention to the words and sentences around it. The clues live right in the text, showing descriptions, contrasts, or examples that point to what the word means. So the term that names these hints is context clues. For example, if a sentence says, “The parched field drank in the rainless sun,” you can infer that parched means extremely dry by looking at how the surrounding words describe moisture and heat. That’s the idea behind context clues: you use nearby information to unlock the meaning of a new word. A thesaurus is a tool for finding synonyms and antonyms, foreshadow is about hints of what will happen later in a story, and genre is the category of the text, none of which describe the clues you use to determine word meaning.