Vocabulary: Context Clues, Word Parts, Synonyms and Antonyms
Work out a word's meaning from the sentence and from its parts, then pick the synonym or antonym that fits the exact sense and tone.
What it is
Vocabulary items test whether you understand what a word means in a sentence. The exam uses four formats:
- Sentence completion: a sentence with a blank; choose the word that fits.
- Vocabulary in context: a sentence with an underlined word; choose its meaning.
- Synonym: choose the word closest in meaning.
- Antonym: choose the word opposite in meaning.
You do not need to know every word. You need three tools: context clues (hints in the sentence), word parts (prefix, root, suffix) and elimination (crossing out choices that cannot be right).
Why it matters on the exam
In the practice tests, vocabulary items fill a large part of the Verbal section, in every one of the four formats. Many test takers lose points not because the word is new to them, but because they fall for a planted trap: an opposite, a word with the wrong tone, or a word that matches another meaning of the target.
At work, reading memos, laws and reports often means meeting unfamiliar words. The same tools help you understand them without stopping to look each one up.
Most of the applicants were nervous, but Carla stayed ______ throughout her interview.
- composed
- anxious
- restless
- tearful
- hesitant
The rest of this lesson, and every other lesson, is part of ReviewTayo.
Read moreIn the full lesson
- How to recognize it on the test
- What to look for (5 checks)
- All 5 rules and tools
- 4 worked examples, every step explained
- 6 common mistakes and how to fix them
- 4 exam techniques
- Remember: 5 key points
- Practice questions with explanations, and your progress saved
More Verbal Ability lessons
ReviewTayo has 47 lessons that follow the official scope of the exam, each with rules, worked examples, common mistakes and practice. Open one and read the first part.