Context Clues Worksheets for 3rd Grade
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Skill: Using clues in a sentence to work out the meaning of an unfamiliar word
Teaching tips and what to try next
A strong match for third graders who read short chapter books independently and sometimes skip words they do not know. Ask your child to point to the exact words that helped, because naming the clue matters more than guessing right. Word parts are another tool, practiced in Prefixes and Suffixes, and Synonyms and Antonyms builds related vocabulary.
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About this worksheet
Good readers do not stop at every hard word. They look at the rest of the sentence for clues to what the word means. If the timid puppy hid behind the couch, the hiding is a strong clue that timid means shy. Third graders are expected to use sentence-level context as a clue to word meaning, and this third-grade worksheet practices that skill with twelve sentences.
Each sentence has one harder word, such as weary, fragile, scarce, gleaming or ancient. After the sentence, the word is repeated with three possible meanings in parentheses, and children write the meaning that fits. The clues are different kinds: some sentences give a cause or a result, some describe what something looks or feels like, and some give an example. The right answer moves around in the parentheses. All twelve words are ones that third graders meet in chapter books and science texts.
How to use it: teach your child to underline the clue words with a pencil before choosing an answer. For "After the hike, the weary kids fell asleep," the clue words are hike and fell asleep. Then try each meaning in place of the hard word and ask which one makes the sentence make sense. Talk about how your child knew, because explaining the clue is the real skill.
The answer key gives the meaning of every word. To use word parts as clues, try our Prefixes and Suffixes worksheet. For words with similar and opposite meanings, try our Synonyms and Antonyms worksheet.