13
FINDING A DEFINITION
LITERACY WORD BANK makes it easy for the child to
find a definition. When there is an unfamiliar word used
in a definition, it can be highlighted and the meaning
found. When a game word is difficult or new, it can be
looked up too.
Each dictionary entry has several parts to it: a) The head-
word (the word that is being defined) in bold, b) The part
of speech (noun, verb, etc.) in italics. c) The plurals of
nouns, the parts of verbs and some comparatives and
superlatives of adjectives and adverbs in brackets, and
d) The definition. Some words which may be pronounced
differently from the way they are spelled, or whose pronun-
ciation changes depending on the part of speech, have
pronunciation information in brackets. In some definitions,
phrases and idioms that use the headword are listed at the
bottom of the definition. Very often, the phrase is used in a
sentence to demonstrate it’s usage.
In some definitions, when the headword can be con-
fused with another word either because of spelling or
punctuation, C
ONFUSABLES
appears at the bottom of the
definition. The words that can be confused are listed one
under the other, separated by colons from their mean-
ings. The definition for eye, for example, has:
eye: vision
aye: yes
I: me