Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

WILDFIRE

DEFINITION:
An unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
It was not yet clear how the wildfires started, but a long drought, low humidity and strong winds were fueling them.
The Key West Citizen, 04/27/2026

Generate your own quiz
Select a grade level
 Elementary
 Middle School
 High School
Select a quiz type
 By words
 By Definitions
Select how many questions
5   10   15   20  

Words in the News Quiz
5 Middle School Words

Click on the correct answer in the quiz below.
Then see if you can find the word in your newspaper -- the print edition, the website or the digital edition and copy the sentence for context. NOTE: High School words are much harder to find!


1. Phloem

The systematic procedure by which a complex or scientific task is accomplished.

The pattern produced on a photosensitive medium that has been exposed by holography and then photographically developed.

A form of a verb that in some languages, such as English, can function independently as an adjective.

The food-conducting tissue of vascular plants, consisting of sieve tubes, fibers, parenchyma, and sclereids.


2. Suffrage

Self-examination.

The right or privilege of voting; franchise.

To condescend to give or grant

A dense evergreen forest occupying a tropical region with an annual rainfall of at least 100 inches.


3. Voracious

Consuming or eager to consume great amounts of food; ravenous.

A cult or religious movement, a group sharing particular (often unorthodox) political and/or religious beliefs.

A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.

One that is inconvenient, annoying, or vexatious; a bother.


4. Polygon

An ammunition belt, worn over the shoulder, having loops or pockets for cartridges.

A closed plane figure bounded by three or more line segments.

A diffuse mass of interstellar dust or gas or both, visible as luminous patches or areas of darkness

A treeless area between the icecap and the tree line of Arctic regions, having a permanently frozen subsoil and supporting low-growing vegetation


5. Bizarre

The drawing of a conclusion by reasoning; the act of deducing.

Strikingly unconventional and far-fetched in style or appearance; odd

A proportional part or share.

Using or marked by the use of few words; terse or concise.


Get more Quizzes 

 Elementary School    Middle School   High School  

 By Word     By Definition    5  10  15  20 Questions

Common Core State Standard
LS.CCS.4/5/6 Grades 3-12: Students are asked to determine the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words through multiple choice vocabulary quizzes. Quizzes are designed to help students demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in words, acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words, and gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. Students are then asked to find the words within the newspaper and copy the sentence for context to its overall meaning or function in a sentence.