Basic Details
Word: Context
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: The words or sentences around a word, or the situation around an event, that help you understand its real meaning.
Synonyms: setting, background, situation, circumstances
How to Spell Context
Syllables: con - text
Tricky part: The word ends in xt, two consonants together. When said quickly the final t almost disappears, so students write contex.
Watch out for: contex, contekst, contaxt
Memory tip: Context is the text that goes with a word: con + text. Write the whole word text, t at both ends, after con.
Idioms and Phrases
- out of context: taken away from the words or situation around it, so the meaning changes Example: "The film star said the quote was taken out of context."
Usage Examples
Example 1: You can often guess a hard word's meaning from its context.
Example 2: Our history teacher always explains the context before telling us about a battle.
Example 3: In the context of a cricket match, a duck means scoring zero.
Fun Fact
Context and text both come from the Latin texere, to weave, which also gave English the word textile.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. paragraf 2. dialouge 3. vocabulery 4. context
a) a conversation between characters in a book, play or film
b) a group of sentences about one idea, starting on a new line
c) all the words a person knows or uses
d) the words or situation around something that explain its meaning
Show answer
d) the words or situation around something that explain its meaning. Paragraph ends in ph, dialogue has ue after the g, and vocabulary ends in ary; context has no mistake.
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to context as used in the sentence:
To understand why the old king made that decision, you first need to know the context of the war he was fighting.
a) background
b) summary
c) purpose
d) result
Show answer
a) background. The context of the war is its background, the facts around it that explain the decision.
Mingle-Mangle
The jumbled word in the sentence hides a real word. Choose it:
Reading the whole paragraph gave the strange line a much clearer xtonetc.
a) contest
b) contact
c) context
d) content
Show answer
c) context. Only context has the x; contest, contact and content are near look-alikes with other letters.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Without knowing the full contex of the remark, the newspaper printed only half of what the minister said at the meeting in Delhi last Tuesday.
a) meeting
b) minister
c) contex
d) newspaper
Show answer
c) contex. Context needs its final t: con-text.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A word read in context is read ____.
a) without looking at its ending
b) from a list of hard words
c) with the sentences around it
d) one letter at a time, slowly
Show answer
c) with the sentences around it
2. Which word is the adjective form of context?
a) contextual
b) contexted
c) contextly
d) contexting
Show answer
a) contextual
