Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words or phrases based on grade 8 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
Common Core State Standards, Grade 8, Language · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What L.8.4 Means in Plain English
Eighth graders who hit an unfamiliar word use what the sentence offers (its meaning, the word’s position), break the word into Greek or Latin parts like the cede in precede, recede and secede, and check a dictionary or glossary. Then they test the meaning in the sentence.
Seventh graders (L.7.4) used the same four strategies with roots like bell in belligerent and rebel. Eighth grade applies them to harder history and science reading, where one root unlocks a family. In grades 9 and 10 (L.9-10.4), students track how words change form, like analyze and analytical.
L.8.4 I Can Statements
I can use a sentence’s clues to guess an unfamiliar word.
I can use Greek and Latin roots like cede to work out meanings.
I can check a word’s meaning and pronunciation in a dictionary.
L.8.4 Worked Example
One word from a history textbook and two attempts at it. Only the strong one tests its guess.
Prompt
Work out secede in this sentence from a history textbook: “After Lincoln’s election in 1860, South Carolina voted to secede from the Union, and other Southern states soon followed.”
Not YetSecede means succeed, so South Carolina succeeded in the election.The guess comes from a word that sounds alike, and the student never tests it. Put back in the sentence, “voted to succeed from the Union” makes no sense, and South Carolina wasn’t running in an election.
Meets the StandardSecede is something a state votes to do from the Union, and other states followed, so it must mean to leave. The root cede means go, as in precede (go before) and recede (go back), and se- means apart, so secede is go apart. The glossary says “to withdraw formally from a nation” and gives the pronunciation, sih-SEED. Read back in: South Carolina voted to formally leave the Union. That fits.It uses the context (a vote, from the Union, states followed), the Latin root it shares with precede and recede, and the glossary for the exact meaning and pronunciation. Then it checks the meaning back in the sentence.
Moves to Use
Read the whole sentence for clues: who does the action, and to what?Use the word’s position: after to, it is a verb, so the meaning is an action.Split off the prefix and root: se- (apart) plus cede (go).Check the meaning and pronunciation in a glossary or dictionary.Put your meaning back in the sentence and read it through.
Common Mistakes with L.8.4
Trusting a look-alike word
“Secede means succeed.” “Precede means proceed.”
Try this: Have students put the look-alike meaning back into the sentence and read it aloud before they accept it.
Copying the first dictionary definition
For “the committee tabled the bill,” copying “to put on a table” from the top of the entry
Try this: Require students to copy the definition that fits the sentence and write the part of speech beside it.
Learning roots as a list
Students can recite “cede means go” but don’t notice it in concede or intercede
Try this: Give each root a word family wall, and add every new word students find in their reading, with the sentence it came from.
Vocabulary Worksheet GeneratorFree ToolTurn one root family (precede, recede, secede, concede) into word, definition and sentence practice, so students meet the root four times on one sheet.Root familiesGrade 8