Context Clues Teaching Resources
Introduce your elementary students to context clues with printables, worksheets, and more ELA teaching resources. Created by the teachers on the Teach Starter team, this collection of curriculum-aligned resources is designed to save you lesson planning time when you're teaching students this important reading comprehension strategy.
New to this sector of the ELA curriculum? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Are Context Clues?
Context clues are hints within a text that can help the reader understand the meaning of an unfamiliar word or phrase. These clues can come in many forms, including synonyms, antonyms, explanations, examples, or definitions within the text. They can also be found in the form of the word's relationship to the surrounding words, sentences, or paragraphs. By using these clues, readers can infer the meaning of a word or phrase without having to look it up in a dictionary.
Types of Context Clues
There are several types of context clues that can help your students as they decode a text:
- Definition: The meaning of the word is provided within the sentence or passage
- Synonym: A word that has a similar meaning to the unfamiliar word is provided
- Antonym: A word that has the opposite meaning to the unfamiliar word is provided
- Example: The unfamiliar word is used in a sentence or phrase that helps the reader understand the meaning
- Inference: The reader uses the surrounding words, sentences, or paragraphs to understand the meaning of the unfamiliar word.
Why Are Context Clues Important for Students to Learn?
Context clues are particularly useful for students who are learning to read and understand new texts, as they help them to build their vocabulary and improve their reading comprehension. They are also useful for students who are learning a new language, as they can help them to understand new words and phrases in context.
How to Teach Context Clues
Looking for a few ways to get started with context clues? The resources in this collection will help, and here are a few tips from our teacher team!
There are several ways to teach context clues in order to help students understand the meaning of new or unfamiliar words:
- Modeling: Show students how to use context clues by reading a passage aloud and pointing out the context clues that are used to understand the meaning of new words.
- Guided Practice: Provide students with a passage that contains new or unfamiliar words, and have them work in small groups or pairs to identify and use context clues to determine the meanings of the words.
- Independent Practice: Provide students with reading passages that contain new or unfamiliar words and have them work independently to identify and use context clues to determine the meanings of the words.
- Graphic Organizers: Use graphic organizers such as concept maps, semantic webs, or word webs to help students organize the information they gather from context clues.
- Word Sorts: Have students sort words based on the context clues that were used to determine the meaning of each word.
It is also important to remind students that it's okay to not know the meaning of a word, and that it's a natural part of learning, but also to encourage them to use the context clues to help them understand the meaning of a word.
- Plus Plan
Context Clues Scoot Activity
Use context clues to determine the meaning of an unfamiliar word.
- Free Plan
Using Clues to Determine Meaning Worksheet
Practice defining unfamiliar words by looking for context clues within a sentence.
- Plus Plan
Context Detectives Worksheet
A set of 3 worksheets for students to practice using context clues to identify the meaning of a word.
- Plus Plan
Context Clues Task Cards
Use this set of 20 task cards to help students define new vocabulary words by identifying context clues within sentences.
- Plus Plan
Using Context Clues - Worksheet
A worksheet to practice using context clues.
- Plus Plan
Find Word Meaning in Context Poster
A poster highlighting how to find word meaning in context when reading a piece of text.