Basic Details
Word: Contextual
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Connected with or depending on the context, that is, the words or situation around something.
Synonyms: situational, circumstantial
How to Spell Contextual
Syllables: con - tex - tu - al
Tricky part: After context comes ual, not ul or el. Said quickly, the x and the tu blur into a ks-choo sound, so some students write conteksual or contextul.
Watch out for: contextul, contextuel, conteksual
Memory tip: Keep context whole and add ual, the same ending as in factual and actual. Context plus u-a-l, nothing removed.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The puzzle gave contextual clues to help us guess each missing word.
Example 2: Mr Iyer asked a contextual question about the poem we had just read.
Example 3: Some jokes need contextual knowledge to make any sense.
Fun Fact
Translation apps look at contextual clues to decide whether bank means the side of a river or a place that keeps money.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the word that forms a real word when the suffix ual is added.
ual
a) context
b) custom
c) pattern
d) season
Show answer
a) context. Context plus ual gives contextual; season becomes seasonal and custom becomes customary, and pattern takes no such ending.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
Some words have a ucxatnetol meaning that changes with the sentence around them.
a) conceptual
b) continual
c) contractual
d) contextual
Show answer
d) contextual. A meaning that depends on the sentence around it is contextual, and that word uses every letter given.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
con_e_tual
a) c, x
b) t, s
c) t, c
d) t, x
Show answer
d) t, x. The word keeps context inside it, so t comes after con and x after the e.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A contextual clue in a passage is a clue that comes from ____.
a) a picture of the author
b) the title page
c) the words around it
d) a dictionary
Show answer
c) the words around it
2. Contextual is to context as factual is to ____.
a) factory
b) faction
c) fact
d) facture
Show answer
c) fact
