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Common Core ELA1st GradeLanguage

L.1.4: Figure Out New Words from Clues

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.4 · Cluster: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use.

Get the Word MapAll 41 1st Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 1, Language · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What L.1.4 Means in Plain English

When a first grader meets a word they don’t know, they use three clues: the rest of the sentence, a part stuck on the front or back like un- or -ful, and the root word inside, like jump in jumps, jumped and jumping.

Flexibly means trying a second clue when the first fails, and the sentence is what sorts out a word with two meanings. Kindergarten (L.K.4) used endings like -ed as clues, and 2nd grade (L.2.4) adds known prefixes, compound words like birdhouse and beginning dictionaries.

L.1.4 I Can Statements

  • I can use the other words in a sentence as clues.
  • I can tell what un- does to a word.
  • I can find the small word inside looked and looking.

L.1.4 Worked Example

One sentence from a lunchtime story, one word a child has not read before, and two tries at its meaning.

Prompt

Read: “Rosa unzipped her lunchbox and took out a peach.” What does unzipped mean? How do you know?

Not Yet“It means she zipped it.”The child found the root, zip, and stopped there. The un- at the front flips the meaning, and the sentence says she took food out, which could not happen with the lunchbox zipped shut.
Meets the Standard“It means she opened the zipper. Zip is the word inside, un- means the opposite, and -ed means she already did it. She took out a peach, so it had to be open.”All three clues at once: the affix un- (part b), the root zip and its -ed form (part c), and the rest of the sentence as a check (part a). The child picked the clues, which is the “flexibly” in the standard.
Moves to Use
Read the whole sentence: what would make sense here?Cover the beginning and the end: what small word is left?un- means not or the opposite: unzip, unhappy.-ed means it already happened, and -ing means it is happening.Check: put your meaning back in the sentence.

Common Mistakes with L.1.4

Stopping at the root

Unzipped means zipped, unhappy means happy

Try this: Have the child cover the root with a finger and say what the front part does before saying the whole word’s meaning.

Never checking the guess

Says unzipped means “a kind of bag” and keeps reading

Try this: Teach a put-it-back check: read the sentence again with the guessed meaning in place and ask if it still makes sense.

One meaning per word

Reads “Rock the baby to sleep” and pictures a stone

Try this: Ask “Could this word mean something else?” whenever a known word makes no sense, and sketch both meanings side by side.

Where L.1.4 Fits

Comes BeforeL.K.4Learn new meanings for familiar words and use endings like -ed and -s as clues.
AlongsideRF.1.3Read -ed and -ing endings when decoding, the same word parts this standard uses for meaning.RI.1.4Ask and answer questions to work out a word or phrase in an informational book.
Comes NextL.2.4Use known prefixes and roots, compound words and beginning dictionaries to work out meaning.

Practice L.1.4

Spelling Worksheet GeneratorFree ToolA word family as the week’s list, like jump, jumps, jumped and jumping, so the root shows up in every form.Root words-s, -ed, -ingGrade 1
Make a Worksheet

Quick Check

  1. What is the root word in looking, and what does -ing tell you?
  2. If happy means glad, what does unhappy mean?
  3. Use the sentence to figure out soggy: “I left my cereal in the milk too long, and it got soggy.”

L.1.4: Other Names

L.1.4CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.1.4

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.