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TOEFL Reading vocabulary in context: practice questions

B2Reading40 questionsUpdated

TOEFL Reading vocabulary questions highlight one word in the passage and ask which option is closest in meaning to it as it is used there. That last phrase is the whole task: a word you know in one sense may be doing a different job in this sentence. Practise reading the clue around the word rather than reaching for the first translation that comes to mind.

What this task tests

  • Academic word meaning at the level of a first-year university textbook.
  • Whether you can use the surrounding sentence, not a memorised definition, to pick the meaning.
  • Recognition of a word’s part of speech: novel as an adjective is not novel as a noun.
  • Sensitivity to contrast and cause signals (however, because, as a result) that point to meaning.
  • Speed: these items should cost you well under a minute each so that harder questions get the time.
  • Range: passages come from natural science, social science, art history and American history, so the vocabulary is broad rather than technical.
  • Whether you can work from word parts (re-, in-, -ify, -able) when the whole word is new to you.
  • Collocation: which verbs and adjectives normally sit next to which nouns in academic prose.
  • Discipline: leaving an item after one substitution check instead of circling back to it twice.

How to do it

  1. Step 1:

    Read the whole sentence, not the word

    The highlighted word is easy to find, so go straight to it and then read from the capital letter to the full stop. The clue is almost always inside that sentence.

  2. Step 2:

    Predict before you look

    Say your own synonym under your breath before reading the options. If you have a prediction, distractors stop looking attractive.

  3. Step 3:

    Check the part of speech

    If the tested word is a verb in the passage, the answer will work as a verb. This alone removes an option or two on hard items.

  4. Step 4:

    Substitute and reread

    Put your chosen option back into the sentence and read it. If the sentence now says something the paragraph does not support, you have chosen a real meaning of the word that is not this meaning.

  5. Step 5:

    Move on

    If two options still look possible after substitution, take the one that matches the sentence’s direction (positive or negative) and go. Vocabulary items are not where a long think pays off.

  6. Step 6:

    Use the punctuation

    A dash, a colon or a that-clause straight after the word is often a definition the writer has already supplied. Read it before you read the options.

  7. Step 7:

    Split the word when stuck

    Break it into prefix, root and suffix to narrow the field, then confirm with the sentence. Word parts are a filter, not a verdict: invaluable does not mean ‘not valuable’.

  8. Step 8:

    Check the direction of the sentence

    Decide whether the writer is being positive or negative about the thing described. Roughly half the distractors fail that single test.

  9. Step 9:

    Do not change an answer without a reason

    Second-guessing on vocabulary costs more than it gains. Change your choice only if you can point to the word in the sentence that rules the first one out.

Mistakes that cost marks

  • Not thisChoosing ‘book’ for novel in ‘a novel explanation’.

    ThisChoosing ‘new’.

    The word sits before a noun, so it is an adjective; the noun meaning cannot fit the grammar of the sentence.

  • Not thisChoosing ‘challenge’ for corroborate.

    ThisChoosing ‘confirm’.

    Corroborate means to support with further evidence. Candidates hear the -rob- and guess a negative meaning.

  • Not thisReading only the highlighted word and answering from memory.

    ThisReading the full sentence first.

    Polysemous words such as check, plot, order and current are chosen precisely because the common meaning is the wrong one.

  • Not thisPicking the most academic-sounding option.

    ThisPicking the option that survives substitution.

    Test writers build distractors out of impressive words; difficulty is not evidence of correctness.

  • Not thisReading ‘yield’ in ‘the mine yielded silver’ as ‘give way’.

    ThisReading it as ‘produce’.

    Both are genuine meanings of the verb, but only one can take a mine as its subject and a metal as its object.

  • Not thisReading ‘invaluable’ as ‘not valuable’.

    ThisReading it as ‘extremely valuable’.

    The prefix misleads here, which is exactly why a guess from word parts has to be confirmed against the sentence.

  • Not thisChoosing the option that matches a word in your first language.

    ThisChoosing the option that fits the English sentence.

    False friends drift: actually, eventually, sensible and assist all mean something different in several European languages.

Language this task keeps reusing

corroborate
to support a claim with further evidence
mitigate
to make something less severe
tenuous
weak, based on very little evidence
ubiquitous
found everywhere
aggravate
to make a bad situation worse
distinct
clearly separate or different
spurious
false, not genuine
profound
very great, far-reaching
novel (adj.)
new and original
undermine
to weaken gradually
erratic
irregular and unpredictable
obsolete
no longer used because something better exists
proliferate
to increase quickly in number
contiguous
sharing a border, next to each other
instrumental
important in making something happen
inconclusive
not giving a clear answer either way

Practice: vocabulary in context

40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.

“By the 1870s the port had become the most prosperous settlement on the coast.” As used here, “prosperous” is closest in meaning to:

2Complete with one academic word meaning ‘happened at the same time’ (starts with c).

The eruption with a sharp drop in summer temperatures across Europe.
Decide whether each statement about vocabulary-in-context questions is true or false.
  • The tested word always carries its most common dictionary meaning.
  • The sentence around the word normally contains a clue to the intended meaning.
  • Putting your chosen option back into the sentence is a useful final check.
3 to go

4Complete with one adjective meaning ‘open to more than one reading’ (starts with a).

The wording of the treaty was , and the two governments read it differently.
“Sediment gradually accumulated at the mouth of the river.” “Accumulated” is closest in meaning to:

6A question asks about “novel” in the sentence “The team proposed a novel explanation for the data.” Explain in one sentence why “a book” is wrong and what the word means here.

7Complete with the correct form of a verb meaning ‘made worse’ (starts with a).

The drought was by decades of heavy irrigation upstream.
You do not know the tested word. What is the best move?

9Complete with one adjective meaning ‘found in many places’ (starts with w).

By 1920 the automobile was in American cities, and streetcar companies were already losing riders.
“The evidence for the earlier date remains tenuous.” “Tenuous” is closest in meaning to:

Keep going

30 more questions on this page

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Frequently asked questions

How many vocabulary questions appear in TOEFL Reading?

Each reading passage typically includes a small number of them, and they are among the quickest items on the section. Treat them as time you are banking for the prose summary at the end.

Should I memorise word lists?

Lists help, but only alongside reading. Learn each word inside a sentence and with its part of speech, because the test asks for meaning in context, not for a definition.

What if two options both mean roughly the same thing?

Then neither is usually right, or one of them clashes with the sentence. Substitute both and read the sentence aloud in your head: the wrong one will contradict something the paragraph has already said.

Do I need the technical terms in the passage?

No. Genuinely technical words are defined by the passage itself, often in a clause straight after them. The tested words are general academic vocabulary you would meet in any first-year textbook.

Is it worth guessing?

Always. Nothing is deducted for a wrong answer, so never leave an item blank. Remove the two options that clash with the direction of the sentence and choose between what is left.

How do I build this vocabulary quickly?

Read one short academic article a day and record new words in a full sentence with their part of speech. Twenty words learned inside a sentence are worth more than two hundred on a list.