Vocab practice · 1 of 3
No light got through the impenetrable fog.
Which meaning fits?
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Estimated time
- 35 minutes
- Practice
- Words in Context question bank
What you’ll learn
- Predict from the clue first, cross out the words you know, then take apart the ones you don't.
- Split an unfamiliar word into prefix, root and suffix and read the parts as a plain phrase.
- Spot the prefixes that mean not, in all their forms, and what they do to a word's charge.
- Read prefixes of direction and relation, suffixes and a dozen high-value roots from words you already know.
- Know how far to trust the parts: try both readings of in-, and cross out on parts only when they're clear.
Why this matters on the SAT
Read a word you don’t know by its parts
Sooner or later, a words in context question puts a word you've never seen among the choices, and since the SAT rarely uses the same hard word twice, no list can cover them all. But many hard words are built from parts you know from everyday words, like the in- of incomplete or the spec of inspect. So when a choice stumps you, the real question is this: what do its parts say, and is that enough to keep it or cross it out? The clue still comes first; the parts only help you match it.
Solution to the example
Clue: the colon. The notes contained an algorithm and anticipated modern programming, so they mattered.
Predict: anything but means not at all, so the blank is what the notes weren't, a mere curiosity: unimportant.
Cross out: excessive (C) and tentative (D) have nothing to do with importance.
Take it apart: in- (not) + consequential (important, as in consequence) → not important, so the answer is A.
B tempts most: it's also a “not” word, but unfathomable means impossible to understand, and the colon is about whether the notes mattered.
SAT example
Early reviewers dismissed Ada Lovelace’s 1843 notes on Charles Babbage’s proposed Analytical Engine as a mere curiosity, but later historians have argued that the notes were anything but _____: they contained an algorithm and anticipated several principles of modern computer programming.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A
inconsequential
- B
unfathomable
- C
excessive
- D
tentative
Split the word into its parts
Many long words are built from smaller pieces. A prefix comes first and often sets a direction: not, against, before. The root carries the core meaning. A suffix comes last and says what kind of word it is. Split the word at those seams, read each part, then turn the parts into a plain phrase. In the examples, the word or part being tested is bold, and the clue in a sentence is underlined.
- Note: Split
- un- | ten | -able
- Note: Read the parts
- not + hold + able to be → can't be held
- Correct
- The old theory was untenable: no one could defend it once the new fossils turned up.
You may never have seen untenable, but you know its root from tenant, someone who holds a lease, and from contain, where it's spelled tain. A position that can't be held is one you have to give up, which is what the clue says.
Parts come after the clue, never before it. The routine from the first lesson still runs first: find the clue and its signal, predict, and cross out the choices you know don't match. Keep the words you don't know, and only then take them apart. A decoded word still has to match your prediction, like any other choice.
Prefixes that mean “not”
The parts most worth knowing are the ones that turn a word into its opposite. They decide hard SAT choices more often than any other part, so these five are the ones to memorize:
| Prefix | Means | Words you know |
|---|---|---|
| un- | not | unhappy, unfair |
| in-, im-, il-, ir- | not | incomplete, impossible, illegal, irregular |
| non- | not | nonstop, nonfiction |
| a-, an- | not, without | atypical, anonymous (without a name) |
| dis- | not, the opposite of | dishonest, disagree |
In- often changes its n to match the letter after it: im- before b, m or p, il- before l, ir- before r. So im-, il- and ir- are one prefix in disguise.
- Note: Split
- in- | consistent → not consistent
- Note: Split
- a- | political → not political, staying out of politics
- Note: Split
- dis- | regard → not regard → pay no attention to
A “not” prefix flips the meaning, and often the charge with it: patient is positive, impatient negative. It works the other way too. A “not” on a negative word makes a positive one:
- Correct
- The reviewer was unbiased: she judged every film by the same standard.
- Correct
- The new spray proved innocuous: it harmed neither the bees nor the birds.
Biased is negative, and innocuous is in- (not) + a Latin word for harmful, so unbiased and innocuous are both positive. When you predict a charge, judge the whole word, not its prefix alone.
Split each word before you pick its meaning. One of the three only looks like a “not” word.
Try the move on this SAT question: predict from the clue first, then see what a “not” prefix does to a choice.
Practice problems
A forecast of sunny skies
Practice problem
When the weather forecasters predicted sunny skies, Emma left her umbrella at home, a decision she later regretted when an _____ shower soaked the afternoon streets.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Other prefixes add a direction or a relation
Many other prefixes add a direction or a relation: against, together, before, again, under, around, same, both. You use most of them in everyday words, so each row pairs a prefix with words that carry it.
| Prefix | Means | Words you know |
|---|---|---|
| counter-, anti- | against | counterattack, antifreeze |
| co-, con-, com- | together, with | coworker, connect |
| dis- | apart, away | dismiss, disperse |
| de- | down, away, undo | descend, defrost |
| pre-, fore- | before | preview, forecast |
| re- | again, back | redo, return |
| sub- | under | submarine, subway |
| circum-, peri- | around | circumference, perimeter |
| ex- | out | exit, export |
| in-, im- | in, into | include, import |
| homo- | same | homophone, homogenized milk |
| ambi- | both | ambidextrous |
| mis- | wrongly | misspell, mistake |
Hetero- means different, the opposite of homo-, and number prefixes like multi- (many) and bi- (two) mean what they do in multicolored and bicycle. In- and dis- each sit in both tables, so read them with care; the section on trusting parts shows what to do when an in- could go either way.
- Correct
- Raising the fines was counterproductive: more drivers broke the rule, not fewer.
- Note: Read the parts
- counter- | productive → against + productive → working against its own goal
When two choices share a root, the prefix decides. Include and exclude share a root, and in- and ex- send them opposite ways. When the prefix can only be read one way, a choice whose prefix points away from your prediction can go, even if you couldn't define the whole word.
Split each word before you pick its meaning.
Vocab practice · 1 of 3
A circumspect climber tests each hold before trusting it.
Which meaning fits?
This SAT question puts a direction prefix to work, so let the clue give you a prediction before you decode anything.
Practice problems
A park that floods on purpose
Practice problem
To many residents, the city’s plan to deliberately flood a downtown park during heavy storms sounded _____: why invite water onto valuable land? But planners explained that the park would act as a temporary basin, absorbing overflow from the nearby river and thereby reducing flooding in surrounding neighborhoods.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
The suffix says what kind of word it is
Most suffixes don't change a word's core meaning (-less, without, is the exception). They tell you what kind of word it is: one that describes, one that acts, or one that names a thing.
| Suffix | Makes | Words you know |
|---|---|---|
| -ous, -ive, -al, -ic, -ful | a describing word | famous, active, musical, heroic, careful |
| -able, -ible | a describing word: able to be | readable, visible |
| -less | a describing word: without | careless, endless |
| -ize, -ify | an action word: make | modernize, simplify |
| -ity, -ism, -ance, -ence, -ness | a thing, quality or state | ability, heroism, importance, patience, kindness |
On the SAT, the four choices are almost always the same kind of word, so a suffix rarely rules one out by itself. The suffix tells you how to say the meaning you've decoded. The suffixes -able and -ible do the most: they often mean able to be, so with a “not” in front they mean can't be.
- Note: Read the parts
- in- | exhaust | -ible → not + use up + able to be → can't be used up
- Correct
- The spring seemed inexhaustible: it kept flowing through three years of drought.
- Note: Read the parts
- modern | -ize → make modern
Split each word, and let the suffix tell you how to say what the parts mean.
Vocab practice · 1 of 3
The museum promised to rectify the wrong date on the label.
Which meaning fits?
Borrow a root from a word you know
Roots are the hardest part to spot, and a long list of Latin and Greek roots costs more time than it saves. Instead, find a word you already know that shares the root, and borrow its meaning. These twelve come up often:
| Root | Means | Words you know |
|---|---|---|
| spec | look | inspect, spectator |
| dict | say | predict, dictionary |
| cred | believe | credible, incredible |
| ver | true | verify, verdict |
| ten, tain | hold | tenant, contain |
| vert, vers | turn | convert, reverse |
| gen | birth, kind | generation, genre |
| sci | know | science, conscious |
| mut | change | mutate, permutation |
| vit, viv | life | vital, survive |
| medi | middle | median, medium |
| morph | form, shape | metamorphosis, morph |
Some words carry two of them: a verdict is, at root, a true saying, ver + dict. A word you know can lend a root that isn't in the table, too:
- Note: Borrow
- ver, true, as in verify; simil, like, as in similar
- Note: Read the parts
- ver | simil | -itude → true + like + quality → the appearance of being true
- Correct
- The novel's small details give it verisimilitude: readers forget the town is invented.
The suffix -itude names a quality, as in gratitude. Borrow only from a word that really shares the root. Matching letters can come from different roots: the ped in pedal comes from the Latin for foot, and the ped in pediatrician from the Greek for child. When a link is only a hunch, let it lean you toward a choice, not decide it.
Borrow a root for each word before you pick its meaning.
Vocab practice · 1 of 3
A credulous reader trusts every rumor.
Which meaning fits?
On this SAT question, borrow a root from a word you know, but only once the clue has given you a prediction.
Practice problems
A bigger print run
Practice problem
Early reviews of Marisol Vega’s debut novel were politely tepid, praising its style while doubting its appeal to a broad audience. The publisher nevertheless doubled the initial print run, a move that later proved _____ when the book sold out nationwide in its first week.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Parts are best for crossing out
A word's parts show where its meaning started, and many words haven't strayed far. Some have, so trust parts most for crossing out, and only when the prefix has one plausible reading or you know the word. Three cases call for care.
One prefix, two meanings. A word that starts with in- or im- makes you read it as not. But in- has a second common meaning, in, into or on, as in include and import. So try both readings. Keep the word if either reading gives a sensible meaning that fits the clue; cross it out only when every sensible reading points away.
- Note: Two readings
- in- | nate → not + born, or in + born
- Note: The dictionary's reading
- in- | nate → in + born (as in native) → inborn, natural
- Wrong: Read as “not”
- in- | flammable → not flammable, but it means catches fire, the same as flammable
A musician with innate talent was born with it. The parts alone can't always tell you which reading a word takes, and when both readings could fit the clue, the parts can't decide, so don't cross out on them. Inflammable is the classic trap: its in- means in, as in inflame, which is why safety labels prefer the plainer flammable.
A right prefix can still surprise you. The in- of invaluable really means not, but the phrase it builds needs one more step:
- Note: Read the parts
- in- | valu | -able → not + value + able to be → can't be valued → priceless
Something too valuable to put a price on is priceless, not worthless. So a prefix can mislead in both directions: before you cross out a “not” word, read its phrase literally and take one more step, the way can't be valued leads to priceless.
Parts give a direction, not a definition. A decoded word can point the right way and still miss the text. In the opening question, unfathomable is a “not” word like the answer and still lost, because the text was about importance, not clarity. So parts are strongest when the prefix has one plausible reading and the decoded meaning plainly points away from your prediction. When it points the right way, the choice still has to pass the check.
That makes one routine for any choice you don't know, the one the worked examples and the mixed practice at the end follow:
- Predict the blank from the clue and its signal.
- Cross out the choices you know don't match, and keep the ones you don't know.
- Take apart each word that's left: the prefix for its direction (try both readings of in-), the root from a word you know, the suffix for how to say it.
- Check the decoded word in the blank: does the text show exactly this? Pick it only when it does and the other choices are out.
Example: two unknown words, one prefix
In this question, two of the hardest words end the same way, so a prefix from the table has to decide between them.
Worked example
To test an idea about how the mammalian middle ear evolved, researchers compared a small bone in a Jurassic mammal fossil with a bone in a modern mammal’s ear. The fossil bone helped brace the jaw, while the modern bone transmits sound. The researchers argue that the two bones are _____, not merely look-alikes: both originate from the same embryonic tissue and occupy the same relative position in the skull.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A
homologous
- B
vestigial
- C
incidental
- D
analogous
Step 1
Predict from the clue
The colon after the blank is a same-way signal, and the clue after it says what the bones share: both originate from the same embryonic tissue and occupy the same relative position in the skull. Right before the colon, not merely look-alikes says the blank means more than looking alike. Predict the same in origin and position.
Step 2
Cross out what you know
Incidental means happening by chance, or minor. The text argues for a deep shared origin, so C goes.
Vestigial comes from vestige, a trace of something that's gone, so it describes a leftover part. The text says otherwise: The fossil bone helped brace the jaw, while the modern bone transmits sound. Both bones do a job, so neither is a leftover. B goes too.
Step 3
Let the prefix decide
Homologous and analogous both end in -logous, from the same Greek root, so their prefixes decide.
- Note: Split
- homo- | log | -ous → same + relation + describing word → in the same relation
- Note: Borrow
- analogous, as in analogy → alike in some way
Homo- means same, as in homophone, which matches the clue's same tissue and same position. Analogous borrows from analogy, a comparison of things that are alike in some way, so it means similar. D tempts most, because the bones do look alike. But the text says they're not merely look-alikes, so a word that only means similar says too little. D goes.
Step 4
Check the last choice
Homologous means having the same relative position or structure, in biology because of a shared origin. Same tissue, same position: the text shows exactly this. The answer is A.
- Correct
- The researchers argue that the two bones are homologous, not merely look-alikes: both originate from the same embryonic tissue.
Example: three words that start with “in”
In this question, three choices start with in- or im-, and their prefixes don't all mean the same thing.
Worked example
In reviewing the pianist’s early recordings, the critic resists the tidy story of a prodigy who arrives fully formed; instead, she portrays artistry as something _____, not the result of a single leap but the product of steady, step-by-step refinements in touch and timing over many years.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
- A
incremental
- B
innate
- C
sporadic
- D
immutable
Step 1
Predict from the clue
The critic resists the tidy story of a prodigy who arrives fully formed, and “instead” turns away from it. The words after the blank say what she offers in its place: not the result of a single leap but the product of steady, step-by-step refinements in touch and timing over many years. Predict built up step by step.
Step 2
Cross out what you know
Sporadic means happening now and then, at irregular times. The text says steady, so C goes. That leaves three words that start with in- or im-. It's tempting to read all three as not, but each one gets both readings.
Step 3
Try both readings of each “in”
- Note: Only “not” makes sense
- im- | mut | -able → not + change + able to be → can't be changed
- Note: The dictionary's reading
- in- | nate → in + born → inborn
In immutable, mut is the root of mutate. Read im- as in and you get nothing sensible; read it as not and you get unable to change. Artistry refined over many years changes, so D goes.
Innate came up earlier in the lesson: its in- means in, so it means inborn, natural. B tempts most, because talent you're born with sounds like a fine thing to say about a pianist. But an inborn gift doesn't build up step by step; it's the prodigy's story, and the critic resists the tidy story of a prodigy who arrives fully formed. B goes too.
Met cold, innate would be harder: its not reading, not born and so acquired, might seem to fit the clue. With both readings in play, the parts couldn't decide, so you'd keep B and weigh it against the last choice.
Step 4
Check the last choice
Incremental comes from increment, which shares its Latin source with increase: an increment is an amount added. Here in- means in or upon again, and -al makes a describing word: growing by small additions. That matches steady, step-by-step refinements in touch and timing over many years: the text shows exactly this. If you kept B because innate was new to you, the check settles it: even read as acquired, B says nothing about step-by-step refinement, while A says exactly that. The answer is A.
- Correct
- She portrays artistry as something incremental, the product of steady, step-by-step refinements.
Practice problems
These five questions mix the parts, and none of them tells you which part will help. So the first job is still the clue and your prediction.
A garden on a parking lot
Practice problem
Residents of Hillcrest converted an abandoned parking lot into a community garden overflowing with vegetables and flowers. The project has _____ the neighborhood, making the area cleaner and more welcoming.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Notes on a translated poem
Practice problem
A translator retains a poem's unfamiliar syntax but adds brief notes explaining its historical allusions. The notes do not make the poem wholly familiar or allow readers to bypass its difficulty; instead, they _____ readers' encounter with the poem's strangeness, offering guidance while preserving the need for interpretation.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Comedy beside grief
Practice problem
Critic Mara Ellison observes that Yara Cole's novel repeatedly places dryly comic descriptions beside scenes of bereavement. Ellison cautions readers against treating either tone as the novel's "true" one and the other as a lapse. Instead, she argues, the tonal tension is _____: removing either register would distort the novel's account of how grief is experienced.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Water around an enzyme
Practice problem
Computer models of an enzyme’s hydration shell could reproduce differences in average water density across the enzyme’s surface. Because each average combined countless rapidly changing molecular arrangements, however, the models treated the orientation of any given molecule as unrelated to orientations at neighboring sites. New measurements show that even as individual molecules enter and leave the shell, orientations at several sites change in concert and repeatedly guide substrates toward the active site. These findings do not overturn the claim that the shell is dynamic; rather, they challenge the assumption that it is _____.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
An audit report
Practice problem
An audit report says it takes no position on whether a traffic-sensor algorithm reliably distinguishes buses from trucks. Yet its congestion estimate accepts the algorithm’s classifications without adjustment—a procedure valid only if those classifications are reliable—and every recommendation depends on that estimate. In doing so, the report _____ treats the algorithm as reliable.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Finish the lesson
8 practice examples left
Finish the remaining questions correctly to complete this lesson.
Quick recap
- Predict first: a word's parts help you match the clue; they never replace it.
- “Not” prefixes (un-, in- and its forms, non-, a-, dis-) flip a word's meaning, and often its charge.
- Direction prefixes, roots and suffixes: borrow each part's meaning from a word you know; the suffix tells you how to say it.
- Trust parts with care: in- can mean not or in, so try both readings; cross out on parts only when the prefix has one plausible reading and the meaning plainly points away.
- Every choice you don't know: predict, cross out what you know, take apart what's left, then check.
Related
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