📖Definition
Contextual Meaning questions ask what a word means in a particular sentence. The same word can have different meanings in different contexts.
Knowledge Required
Know that many English words are polysemous: they have more than one meaning. Examples include crane, bark, current, charge, plain and light.
✅How To Answer
Read the sentence carefully and identify the surrounding clues.
Substitute each answer meaning into the sentence.
Choose the meaning that makes the whole sentence sensible.
✏️Example
In this sentence, what does CRANE mean?
The crane lifted the steel beam.
tall machine for lifting
✅Solution
The words lifted and steel beam point to building work. Here crane means a tall machine for lifting, not a bird or a neck movement.
💡Multiple Choice Tip
All options may be real meanings of the word. The question is asking for the meaning in this sentence only.
💡Tips/hints
Underline clue words mentally. They usually appear close to the target word.
If the sentence is about people, places, objects or actions, use that topic to narrow the meaning.