Word Detective
Real reading never hands you a definition. You work a word out from the sentence around it, the way a detective works a case from the clues at the scene.
The Mayor sends you in before the definition arrives: read the clues around the word and crack its meaning yourself.
The full Word Hoard cycle is coming.
A natural talent or skill for doing something.
In a sentenceAnnie has a natural ability to draw, but I really have to work at it.
So the word means a natural talent or skill
Play it in the Arcade.
Take it onto the floor with the live game. Free, and it plays daily.
Every case is a sentence with one mystery word. Read the clues around it, work out what it means, and crack the case before anyone hands you the definition.
Play Word Detective →Read all the clues, not just the closest one.
Annie has a natural ability to draw, but I really have to work at it.
The words work at it sit close to ability, so it is tempting to decide ability means hard work. The little word but warns you off: it sets Annie's natural gift against the speaker's effort.
Annie has a natural ability to draw, but I really have to work at it.
The clue is natural and to draw: a talent Annie was born with. Ability is a natural talent, the opposite of having to work at it.
A real vocabulary skill, Grades 1 through 8.
Word Detective is one of the seven ways Grammaropolis teaches vocabulary, each mapped to a Common Core vocabulary strand. The Wonderful Words workbooks are standards-cited today across Common Core, Texas TEKS, Florida B.E.S.T., and New York Next Gen, and the per-grade digital alignment arrives with the cycle.
Teachers know these as word-learning strategies.
Other ways to know a word.
Back to Wonderful Words → Try the Sentence Factory → Wonderful Words workbook →