Use guide words

Key Notes :

What are Guide Words?

Guide words are like friendly signposts at the top of each page in a dictionary. They help you quickly find the word you’re looking for! Each page in the dictionary is labeled with two guide words.

The guide word on the left shows the first word on that page. The guide word on the right shows the last word on that page. All the words on that page fall alphabetically between these two guide words.

1. Look at the guide words at the top of the dictionary page.
2. Think about the word you are trying to find.
3. Decide if your word would come alphabetically between the two guide words.
4. If it does, the word will be on that page. If it doesn’t, turn to a different page!

Examples

Example 2: Guide words: jungle – juice Would you find jump on this page? Yes! Jump comes alphabetically between jungle and juice. Would you find iron on this page? No! Iron is not alphabetically between jungle and juice.

Example 1: Guide words: happy – herd Would you find harm on this page? Yes! Harm comes alphabetically between happy and herd. Would you find grape on this page? No! Grape is not alphabetically between happy and herd.

Exercises

Instructions: For each word and set of guide words below, decide if the word would be found on that dictionary page. Answer Yes or No.

1. Guide words: cloud – coffee Word: clap Answer: ______
2. Guide words: daring – date Word: danger Answer: ______
3. Guide words: flower – follow Word: flute Answer: ______
4. Guide words: giant – gift Word: glow Answer: ______
5. Guide words: happy – heat Word: hike Answer: ______
6. Yes
7. Yes
8. No
9. No
10. Yes

Summary

Today, we learned that guide words are helpful tools found at the top of dictionary pages. They show us the first and last words on the page, helping us quickly locate the word we are searching for. By understanding how to use guide words, we can become faster and more efficient dictionary users!

let’s practice!