Lesson · V.1.1
Using context clues
How to work out an unfamiliar word on the HESI A2 Vocabulary subtest from the sentence around it, using synonym, contrast, example and inference clues.
By the end of this lesson you can
- You can name the four common types of context clue and spot which one a sentence is using.
- You can use a contrast word (but, however, despite) to work out the opposite meaning of an unfamiliar term.
- You can eliminate answer choices that clash with the sentence's tone, even when you do not know the exact word.
You will meet words on the HESI A2 Vocabulary subtest that you have never studied and, honestly, may never study. The sentence carrying that word is not decoration. It is evidence, and reading it as evidence is how you answer a question about a word you do not know.
What a context clue actually is
A context clue is information in the surrounding sentence that limits what the unfamiliar word could mean. It rarely hands you a dictionary definition. More often it gives you a direction (positive or negative), a comparison, or a concrete situation the word must fit. Your job is to read the sentence for that signal before you look at the answer choices.
Four types come up again and again.
- Synonym clue. A nearby word or phrase means roughly the same thing as the unfamiliar word.
- Contrast clue. A word like but, however, although, despite, or unlike signals that the unfamiliar word means the opposite of something stated nearby.
- Example clue. A list of specific examples shows you the category the unfamiliar word belongs to.
- Inference clue. No single word gives it away, but the overall situation only makes sense if the word means one particular thing.
Synonym and example clues
A synonym clue restates the idea in different words, often right after a comma.
You do not need to have memorised stoic. "Calm and unreadable" sits right beside it and does the defining for you.
An example clue works by listing specifics that all belong to one category.
Four named items, plus "more than the supply closet could hold," point you toward "a large amount" without the word ever being defined directly.
Contrast clues: the most useful signal
Watch for but, however, although, yet, despite, and unlike. Each one tells you the two halves of the sentence pull in opposite directions, so whatever the first half says, the unfamiliar word means roughly the reverse.
- You will not know every word on the Vocabulary subtest. The sentence around the blank almost always narrows the field for you.
- Contrast words (but, although, despite, unlike) are the single most useful clue, since they tell you the unknown word means roughly the opposite of a known word nearby.
- A word's tone, positive, negative, or neutral, usually survives even when its precise definition does not, and tone alone can eliminate two of the four choices.
- Read the whole sentence before you pick an answer. The clue is often after the blank, not before it.
Check yourself
0 / 51According to the lesson, what best describes a context clue?
2Read this sentence: 'The patient's mood was affable, warm and easy to talk to even on a busy ward.' Which type of context clue helps a reader work out what affable means?
3Read this sentence: 'The unit kept an array of monitoring equipment: pulse oximeters, blood pressure cuffs, glucometers, and thermometers, more than one cart could carry.' Which type of context clue is being used here?
4Read this sentence: 'The new intern's paperwork was usually sloppy, but her charting on this shift was surprisingly painstaking.' Based on the contrast word 'but', what does painstaking most likely mean here?
5A learner tells a classmate that context clues always hand you the exact dictionary definition of an unfamiliar word. What is wrong with that claim?