Reading Detectives

This worksheet is designed for students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 to strengthen reading comprehension and vocabulary skills by combining context clues with Greek and Latin root knowledge. Students read short paragraphs with an underlined root-based word and write a definition using both structural analysis and contextual evidence. This integrated approach builds inferencing, decoding, and academic vocabulary skills commonly needed for science and social studies texts.

Academic Focus

• Contextual Vocabulary Interpretation (Grades 4-6) – Use surrounding sentences to infer word meaning accurately.
• Greek & Latin Root Meaning – Apply root knowledge to unlock definitions of unfamiliar academic words.
• Reading Comprehension & Analysis – Analyze paragraph-level meaning to support accurate interpretations.
• Multisyllabic Word Decoding – Break complex words into meaningful parts for improved reading accuracy.

Instructional Benefits

• Teacher-Created Resource – Designed by educators to support explicit vocabulary and comprehension instruction.
• Integrated Skill Practice – Combines morphology, context clues, and close reading in one activity.
• Content-Area Ready – Supports vocabulary strategies needed for science and social studies reading.
• Flexible Use – Ideal for literacy centers, small groups, independent practice, homework, or intervention.
• No-Prep Format – Print-and-go worksheet for classroom or homeschool use.

This printable worksheet helps students become confident “reading detectives” who can decode and interpret challenging vocabulary using structure and context together. By defining root-based words within meaningful passages, learners strengthen inferencing, comprehension, and academic vocabulary skills that transfer across subjects. Whether used in a classroom or homeschool environment, this resource supports strategic reading and long-term word understanding.

This worksheet is part of our Root Words Worksheets collection.