Words in the News

This Week's Word In The News 

PLOY

DEFINITION:
A cunning plan or action designed to turn a situation to one's own advantage.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
“First of all, I think it’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling,” said the 44th president, conceding that it does serve as an effective distraction and ploy for attention.
►The Boston Herald, 02/16/2026

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. Ozone

► Selecting or employing individual elements from a variety of sources, systems, or styles

► An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.

► The act of resting or the state of being at rest.

► Being without or almost without hope

2. Commemorate

► To honor the memory of with a ceremony

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

► To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.

► A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption.

3. Delegate

► A very large and destructive wave, generally caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean, such as an undersea earthquake or volcanic eruption.

► Incorrectness of reasoning or belief

► A person authorized to act as representative for another; a deputy.

► To stress or emphasize; intensify

4. Nebula

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

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

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

► A person with masterly skill or technique in the arts.

5. Analogy

► Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.

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

► Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

► To move back or away from a limit, point, or mark

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.