You've been learning words since you were a tiny baby. At first, you learned them only by hearing other people talk. Now that you're a reader, you have another way to learn words. What should you do when you come to a word and you think you don't know what it means? Following some easy steps can help you.
●Say it
First sound it out. Then say it to yourself. It might sound like a word you know. Sometimes you know a word in your head but you don't know what it looks like in print. So if you match up what you know and what you read—you will have the word!
●Use context
If this doesn't work, take the next step: look at the context—the other words and sentences around it. Read this sentence: When it rained, the dog looked for shelter in the doorway. If the word shelter doesn't look familiar, look at the words around it. They might give you useful information and help you understand the whole sentence or passage.
●Use word parts
If the context doesn't help, look at the parts of the word. Does it have any parts you know? These can help you understand what it means. If you don't know the meaning of miner, try looking at parts of the word. You might know that a mine is a place underground where people get coal and other valuable things. A lot of times, -er at the end of a word means "a person who does something". So a miner might be someone who works in a mine.
If the three steps above don't work, you can use the fourth step—look it up! You can find the word in a dictionary—either a book or online.
Nobody knows the meaning of every word, but good readers know how to understand words they don't know.
