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. Salmonella
► An alteration or change, as in nature, form, or quality.
► One that is inconvenient, annoying, or vexatious; a bother.
► The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.
2. Wretched
► An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.
► In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.
► The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.
3. Spectrum
► The distribution of energy emitted by a radiant source, arranged in order of wavelengths.
► Having a buoyant or self-confident air; brisk.
► An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.
4. Nocturnal
► Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline
► Of, relating to, or occurring in the night
► Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.
5. Exponent
► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.
► Being without or almost without hope
► One that speaks for, represents, or advocates
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.