Use Context to Unlock Meaning

Determine meanings of unknown and multiple-meaning words using definitions, examples, restatements, and surrounding context.

How the lesson starts: Use Context to Unlock Meaning

Whispering Pines Park
Welcome to Whispering Pines Wildlife Park! Ranger Tomás leads the tours. His owl, Hoot, rides on his hat. The park signs are full of big words. But Tomás has a trick. The words around a hard word often explain it.
The sign tells you
Read the owl sign. Owls like Hoot are nocturnal, or awake at night. The writer put the meaning right after the word! Little signals like or, which means, and such as point to a meaning close by.
Example clues
Sometimes the clue is a list of examples. Tomás feeds the herbivores, such as deer, rabbits, and goats. What do those animals eat? Plants! So herbivores are animals that eat plants. Try it in the sentence. It fits!