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Common Core ELA6th GradeLanguage

L.6.4: Work Out and Check Word Meanings

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.6.4 · Cluster: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use.

Make a Vocabulary QuizAll 41 6th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 6, Language · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What L.6.4 Means in Plain English

Sixth graders meet a word they don’t know, or a familiar one that doesn’t fit, and choose a strategy: the sentence around it, its job in the sentence, a Greek or Latin root like aud (hear) in audible, or a dictionary. Then they test the meaning in the sentence.

Fifth graders (L.5.4) used cause-and-effect and comparison clues, roots like photo in photograph, and glossaries. Sixth grade adds a word’s position or function as a clue and the habit of verifying a guess. Seventh grade (L.7.4) applies these to roots like bell in belligerent.

L.6.4 I Can Statements

  • I can use a word’s place in the sentence to tell its job.
  • I can use Greek and Latin roots like aud to guess meanings.
  • I can check my guessed meaning in the sentence or a dictionary.

L.6.4 Worked Example

A word every student knows, used in a way most haven’t met. The strong answer works it out and then proves it.

Prompt

Which meaning fits? Work out table in this sentence: “After an hour of arguing, the council voted to table the skate park proposal until spring.”

Not YetTable means a piece of furniture with legs and a flat top. So the council put the proposal on a table.The first meaning that comes to mind, never checked against the sentence. Table sits right after voted to, where an action goes, and nobody sets a proposal on furniture until spring.
Meets the StandardTable comes right after voted to, so here it’s a verb, something the council did. “Until spring” tells me they put the decision off. My guess: to table means to postpone. The dictionary’s verb entry includes setting a proposal aside, and when I read it back, “voted to postpone the proposal until spring” makes sense.Position shows the part of speech, context gives a first meaning, the dictionary entry for the right part of speech confirms it, and reading the meaning back in the sentence checks the fit.
Moves to Use
Check the word’s position: right after to, it’s probably a verb.Use the rest of the sentence, like “until spring,” for a first guess.Break off roots you know: aud means hear, so audible means able to be heard.In a dictionary, go to the entry for the part of speech the sentence uses.Put your meaning back into the sentence and read it to check the fit.

Common Mistakes with L.6.4

The first meaning that comes to mind

“Table means furniture,” in a sentence about a council vote

Try this: Ask students to name the word’s part of speech in this sentence before they guess or look up any meaning.

A root guess never checked

“Audit has aud, so it must be a hearing test,” and the student reads on

Try this: Treat a root as a first guess only, and confirm it in the sentence or a dictionary before writing the meaning down.

Skipping the glossary

A student guesses at sediment while the science textbook defines it in the back

Try this: Show students where each textbook keeps its glossary, and have them check it first for subject words before opening a dictionary.

Where L.6.4 Fits

Comes BeforeL.5.4Use context clues, Greek and Latin roots and reference materials to work out unknown words.
AlongsideRI.6.4Work out word meanings in nonfiction, including technical terms.RL.6.4Work out word meanings in stories and poems, including figurative ones.
Comes NextL.7.4Use the same strategies on harder roots like bell in belligerent, and confirm the meaning.

Practice L.6.4

Vocabulary Quiz GeneratorFree ToolA matching or fill-in quiz from a list of words built on one root (audience, audible, audition) or from the unit’s multiple-meaning words.RootsMultiple-meaning wordsMatching
Make a Quiz

Quick Check

  1. What clue shows that table is a verb in the example sentence?
  2. Use the root aud to work out inaudible.
  3. How does the strong answer verify its guess?

L.6.4: Other Names

L.6.4CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.6.4

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.