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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.
This Week's Word In The News 

SUREFIRE

DEFINITION:
Certain or likely, especially to succeed.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
Kirby taught himself how to count cards, a surefire way to get barred from gambling at a casino, “raking in money on trips to Atlantic City and Las Vegas,” the article stated.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 05/04/2026

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. Renegade

An elevated, comparatively level expanse of land; a tableland.

The act of reasoning from factual knowledge or evidence.

A relationship of mutual benefit or dependence.

One who rejects a religion, cause, allegiance, or group for another; a deserter.


2. Silhouette

Relating to a system of writing, such as that of ancient Egypt, in which pictorial symbols are used to represent meaning or sounds or a combination of meaning and sound.

A drawing consisting of the outline of something, especially a human profile, filled in with a solid color.

To proclaim publicly

The repetition of the same sounds or of the same kinds of sounds at the beginning of words or in stressed syllables


3. Vertebrate

Inspiring awe, admiration, or wonder

Having a backbone or spinal column.

Similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar.

Enforced isolation or restriction of free movement imposed to prevent the spread of contagious disease.


4. Parasite

One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others without making any useful return.

The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year.

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

A state of uncertainty or perplexity.


5. Heritage

Something that is passed down from preceding generations; a tradition.

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

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

Of or relating to the range of invisible radiation wavelengths from about 4 nanometers, on the border of the x-ray region, to about 380 nanometers, just beyond the violet in the visible spectrum.


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