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
► The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.
► To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive
► An unstable, poisonous allotrope of oxygen.
► Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective.
2. Tsunami
► Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative
► A fungus, usually of the class Ascomycetes, that grows symbiotically with algae,
3. Gargoyle
► Loud, noisy, and lacking in restraint or discipline
► A preparation of a weakened or killed pathogen.
► A grotesque ornamental figure or projection.
4. Vacillate
► To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another.
► One who rejects a religion, cause, allegiance, or group for another; a deserter.
► In a deplorable state of distress or misfortune; miserable.
5. Plateau
► The right or privilege of voting; franchise.
► A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.
► An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.
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.