Grade 3 Context Clues Worksheet

Learn to find definitions and examples in text to understand new words.

🎨 Learning Goals

Students learn to recognize definition clues, use examples in context, and make inferences about word meanings.

📖 Definition Clues

Look for words like "is," "means," or "refers to"

💡 Example Clues

Look for words like "such as" or "like"

🧠 Inference Clues

Use surrounding information to figure it out

1

Exercise 1

Definition Clue

A habitat is the natural home of an animal or plant. Many fish live in an ocean habitat.

What is a habitat?

2

Exercise 2

Definition Clue

To investigate means to look into something carefully. The detective will investigate the mystery.

What does "investigate" mean?

3

Exercise 3

Example Clue

There are many types of transportation, such as cars, buses, trains, and airplanes.

What is transportation?

4

Exercise 4

Example Clue

Reptiles like snakes, lizards, and turtles have scales and are cold-blooded.

What are reptiles?

5

Exercise 5

Inference Clue

The ancient ruins were thousands of years old. Scientists study these old structures to learn about the past.

What does "ancient" mean?

6

Exercise 6

Inference Clue

She was exhausted after running the marathon and immediately sat down to rest.

What does "exhausted" mean?

Context Clue Strategies for Grade 3

📖 Definition Clues

Look for sentences that explain what a word means

💡 Example Clues

Use examples to understand what type of thing the word describes

🧠 Make Inferences

Think about what makes sense based on all the information

📚 Read Multiple Sentences

Sometimes you need more than one sentence to find the answer