CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.5

ELA7th GradeVocabulary Acquisition and Use

The Standard

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Language Standards

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students explain nonliteral phrases and familiar allusions in context. They use analogies and other word relationships to infer meaning, then compare the tone of near-synonyms.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students explain a figure of speech or allusion using clues from the passage. They complete analogies and choose among similar words based on the tone a writer wants.
Common Misconceptions: Students may read figurative phrases literally or miss allusions they do not recognize. They may treat synonyms as interchangeable and overlook how context changes a word’s tone.
How to Assess It: Use a three-part exit ticket: explain “Leo met his Waterloo,” complete “whisper is to speak as nibble is to ___,” and compare “confident” with “arrogant.”

Lesson moves

Give pairs phrase cards to sort as literal, figurative, or allusion, then have them explain each choice using a context sentence.
Ask students to explain how replacing “slender” with “skinny” changes the tone of a character description.
Play an analogy relay where teams complete word pairs and state the relationship, such as part to whole or cause to effect.
Collect headlines and advertisements, then identify loaded words and rewrite each example with a more neutral word.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.7.5, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

Learning progression

See the whole path on the Language progression map.

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