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Reading / Vocabulary / Grade 5 / rv5r2

Word Clues: Check the Whole Meaning

Compare related words and spot what a shared part cannot prove.

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Watch the lesson | Practice 1: combine clues and context

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Read the supplied notes along with these clues: photo connects with light or photography; graph and graphy with writing, drawing or recording; bio with life; geo with Earth; tele with distance; micro with small things. Parts can occur later in a word too. Check whole words and context rather than assuming that shared letters make identical meanings.

Worked example

A paragraph is a group of sentences about a connected idea. The graph part occurs after para and connects with writing. It does not tell us the paragraph's topic or make every paragraph a map.

The light clue from photo and recording clue from graph combine in photograph. A camera and recorded picture illustrate the complete meaning, not the identity of the photographer.
A familiar part narrows a meaning. It does not supply missing facts about a particular picture or text.
Question 1 A geography book describes places and relationships on Earth. Which clue helps connect the word with Earth?
Question 2 A photograph records a picture using light. Photosynthesis uses light energy to make sugars. Which statement fits both notes?
Question 3 An autograph is a person's own written signature. Which clue does graph supply?
Question 4 A microphone changes sound into an electrical signal. Does micro prove that every microphone fits in a pocket?
Question 5 Paragraph names a connected group of sentences; cartography concerns maps. What is a careful use of their related graph/graphy parts?