SAT Reading and Writing skill page
Use nearby clues to choose the meaning of a word as it is used in the passage.
What this tests
Practice examples
In the sentence "The scientist proposed a novel method," what does "novel" most nearly mean?
Answer: new
In this context, "novel" describes a method that is new or original, not a book.
In the sentence "The experiment yielded three clear patterns," what does "yielded" most nearly mean?
Answer: produced
The experiment produced three patterns. The context is about results, not surrendering.
In the sentence "The new data tempered the team's optimism," what does "tempered" most nearly mean?
Answer: moderated
The data made the team less overly optimistic, so "tempered" means moderated or restrained.
Avoid these traps
SAT vocabulary questions ask for meaning in context, not the first definition you remember.
Tone can reveal whether a word is positive, negative, or neutral in the passage.
Nearby sentences often provide the clue that disambiguates the word.
Study plan
Related practice
FAQ
Not usually. They mostly test whether you can use context to choose the right meaning of a word.
Common words often have multiple meanings, and the SAT asks which meaning fits the passage.
Practice predicting a word meaning before looking at answer choices, then verify it using nearby clues.
