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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 

VERTEBRAE

DEFINITION:
Each of the series of small bones forming the backbone.

FOUND IN THE NEWS:
The photographer with The Washington Post who was attacked by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank so badly that several vertebrae were broken said Sunday she was increasingly angry that Israel’s military seems to protect settlers more than the Palestinians they threaten.
►Associated Press, 10/19/2026

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. Participle

► A characteristic rate or rhythm of activity; a pace

► Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.

► Exceeding the limits of propriety or good manners; improperly forward or bold

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


2. Tsunami

► To take in by elaborate methods of deceit

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

► A metric unit of length equal to 1,000 meters (0.62 mile).

► One that speaks for, represents, or advocates


3. Sect

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

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

► The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

► 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.


4. Nocturnal

► Marked by hearty conviviality and good cheer.

► Of, relating to, or occurring in the night

► To pound, crush, or grind to a powder or dust.

► Having or demonstrating enthusiasm


5. Typhoon

► Conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

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

► A weather phenomenon in the Eastern Pacific that is precisely equivalent to a hurricane.

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


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