6.2.B
The Standard
use context such as definition, analogy, and examples to clarify the meaning of words
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use nearby definitions, analogies, and examples to work out unfamiliar word meanings. They explain which clue supports their answer and apply the word correctly.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students infer a word’s meaning accurately from nearby clues. They point to a definition, analogy, or example that supports the meaning and use the word correctly in a new sentence.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may choose a nearby familiar word without checking whether it fits the sentence. They may mistake an example for a full definition or ignore how an analogy connects two ideas.
How to Assess It
- Use this exit ticket: “Leo was famished, as hungry as a bear after winter and ready to eat two dinners.” Define “famished,” underline the clue, and name its type.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs sentence strips with unfamiliar words, then have them highlight clues and sort each strip under definition, analogy, or example.
Ask students to write how an analogy in a sentence helps them understand an unfamiliar word, using evidence from the sentence.
Play Context Clue Sort, where teams match word cards to sentence cards and explain which clue proves each match.
Have students find an unfamiliar word in a school announcement, infer its meaning from context, and confirm it with a dictionary.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- 8.2.B
use context within or beyond a paragraph to clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or ambiguous words; and
- 4.3.B
use context within and beyond a sentence to determine the relevant meaning of unfamiliar words or multiple-meaning words;
- 3.3.B
use context within and beyond a sentence to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and multiple-meaning words;
- 7.2.B
use context such as contrast or cause and effect to clarify the meaning of words
Turn this exact standard into a lesson
Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.