One of the ways you can figure out the meaning of an unfamiliar word is to use its context – the words around it, and the meaning of the sentence as a whole. Learning to use context for clues is an important skill. You won’t always have a dictionary handy (on-line or paper), and tests such as the SAT, GRE, LSAT, and ACT are notorious (notorious: well-known or famous, but not in a good way) for using difficult words in their vocabulary and comprehension sections. In order to succeed, you need to be able to determine the meaning of words by their context.

Like any other skill, learning to use context requires practice and training. One of the best ways to train in this skill is to be a frequent and active reader. Read as much as you can! Read something new every day, if possible. Pick up a magazine while you’re waiting to see the doctor. Grab a newspaper on your way to work. Spend your lunch hour catching up on the latest scientific news on the blogs. Choose reading materials that you know will contain words that are new and unfamiliar to you, which deal with politics, current events, science, or education.

When you come across a word that you aren’t sure of, study the sentence and try to guess the word’s meaning. Use the other methods we’ve discussed on this blog to identify a word’s meaning. Can you see a root word that looks familiar? Are there prefixes or suffixes that give you a hint? Write down the word, and your best guess as to what it means.

Next, look the word up (the Ultimate Vocabulary system has more than 142,000 words in its database) and check the meaning. If there are multiple meanings listed, because the word is used in different ways, make sure you have the one that matches the context of the sentence you read. Take the time to review the other uses as well, and any synonyms or antonyms listed for the word. The more you know about a word, the better you’ll remember it in the future.

Finally, put your notes aside and go back to the sentence and paragraph where you first saw the word. Keeping the meaning of the word in mind, look at the context again, and think about what clues there were to the word’s meaning that you may have missed the first time. By working backwards in this way, you’ll develop your skills at determining context, and the next time you find a new word, you’ll be even better at deducing its meaning (to deduce: to come to a conclusion or answer by using logic).