Vocabulary
January 2014
Name:____________________________________ Date:_____________
Word Nerd’s Word Workout
Flex your vocab muscles with Word Nerd’s 10 favorite big, bad words from this issue!
Directions: Try saying each word aloud. To help you do this, look at how the word is split into syllables;
the stressed syllable is in uppercase letters. Read the sentence, which shows how Word Nerd’s word appears
in the magazine. Write the definition of the word, or a synonym for it, on the next line. Finally, complete
each sentence we’ve started for you, checking to be sure it makes sense.
• cargo (noun) CAR-go
“Trains would then take the gooey cargo to distilleries, where the molasses was turned into industrial
alcohol.” (p. 6)
Definition/Synonym: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Complete the sentence: The truck driver refused to deliver the cargo because ______________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
• crisis (noun) KRY-sis
“One crisis can quickly spiral out of control, causing a person to fall behind on housing payments or become
unable to pay at all.” (p. 15)
Definition/Synonym: _____________________________________________________________________________________
Complete the sentence: Andrew knew he was facing a crisis when ________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• debris (noun) duh-bree
“They freed people trapped under collapsed buildings and tangled in molasses-soaked debris.” (p. 8)
Definition/Synonym: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Complete the sentence: Seeing the debris from the hurricane __________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Continued on next page >
© 2014 Scholastic Inc. Teachers may make copies of this page to distribute to their students.
Vocabulary
January 2014
Name:____________________________________ Date:_____________
Word Nerd’s Word Workout, p. 2
• game (noun) gaym
“Her Yup’ik ancestors were said to have crossed this bridge from Siberia to Alaska in pursuit of prehistoric
game.” (p. 21)
Definition/Synonym: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Complete the sentence: On our trip through northern Canada, we hoped to see some large game, such as
____________________________________________________________________________________________
• grim (adjective) grim
“As if the North End weren’t already grim enough, now a three-story steel tank towered over the
neighborhood, blotting out the sun and blocking the view of the harbor. ” (p. 6)
Definition/Synonym: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Complete the sentence: Howard grew up in a grim area, where _________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• landlord (noun) LAND-lord
“One day, the landlord told Kevin’s family they had to leave—immediately.” (p. 15)
Definition/Synonym: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Complete the sentence: Mrs. Grady’s landlord was mad at her because ___________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
•migrating (adjective) MY-grayt-ing
“One day she stood within an arm’s length of a migrating herd of caribou.” (p. 23)
Definition/Synonym: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Complete the sentence: In the sky we saw migrating geese _________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Continued on next page >
© 2014 Scholastic Inc. Teachers may make copies of this page to distribute to their students.
Vocabulary
January 2014
Name:____________________________________ Date:_____________
Word Nerd’s Word Workout, p. 3
•pavilion (noun) puh-VIL-yuhn
“I, Prince Renshu, will build a pavilion to display the slipper.” (p. 13)
Definition/Synonym: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Complete the sentence: The beautiful pavilion was decorated with ______________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• puppy mill (noun) PUHP-ee mill
“In puppy mills, diseased dogs are bred again and again.” (p. 19)
Definition/Synonym: ____________________________________________________________________________________
Complete the sentence: We refused to buy a dog from a puppy mill because ___________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
• treacherous (adjective) TREHCH-er-uhss
“Yeh Shen hikes up a treacherous mountain path.” (p. 10)
Definition/Synonym: ___________________________________________________________________________________
Complete the sentence: The treacherous journey across the ocean involved ___________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
© 2014 Scholastic Inc. Teachers may make copies of this page to distribute to their students.