SAT Reading and Writing Practice Test: Words in Context
- Words in Context
- 10 questions
- 12 minutes
These 10 questions practice Words in Context, a Craft and Structure skill on the digital SAT. Before you look at the choices, predict a word for the blank from the clues in the passage, then pick the choice closest to your prediction.
Tap an option to mark your answer. You can change your mind, or tap the same option again to leave the question blank. The correct answers and explanations appear when you finish the test.Tap an option to answer; tap it again to leave the question blank.
Your result
- 0 correct
- 0 wrong
- 0 blank
-
Question 1
Although the town council had promised a quick decision on the new library, months of debate left the project ______: no site had been chosen and no budget had been approved.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Correct answer: B
The text after the colon says nothing had been decided, so the project was stalled. "Completed" and "expanded" describe progress, which the passage rules out.
-
Question 2
The chef's new menu is deliberately ______: each dish uses no more than four ingredients, and the plates carry almost no decoration.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Correct answer: A
Few ingredients and little decoration describe a spare, simple menu. "Elaborate" means the opposite, and nothing in the text mentions price.
-
Question 3
Early reviewers dismissed the novel as slight, but later critics found its quiet scenes ______ meaning, pointing out how a single glance or pause reveals a character's history.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Correct answer: B
The word "but" signals that later critics disagreed with "slight," and a glance that reveals a history shows the scenes are full of, or laden with, meaning. "Devoid of" would agree with the early reviewers.
-
Question 4
Because the bridge's original blueprints had been lost, engineers had to ______ its internal structure by taking small core samples and scanning the steel supports.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Correct answer: C
Without blueprints, the engineers took samples and scans to find out, or determine, how the bridge is built. Disguising or overlooking the structure would not require testing it.
-
Question 5
The scientist was careful not to ______ her findings: in interviews, she stressed that the study involved only forty participants and needed to be repeated.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Correct answer: D
Stressing the small sample and the need for repetition is a way of avoiding claims that go too far, so she was careful not to overstate the results. Understating would mean presenting them as weaker than they are, which is not what the passage describes.
-
Question 6
For decades, the painter's early sketches were thought to be ______, but a recent exhibition revealed them as carefully planned studies that shaped her later work.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Correct answer: A
The contrast with "carefully planned" shows that the sketches had been seen as haphazard, or random. "Deliberate" means carefully planned, so it would remove the contrast signaled by "but."
-
Question 7
The spread of the invasive vine was finally checked when volunteers began removing it from the riverbank every spring.
As used in the text, what does the word "checked" most nearly mean?
Correct answer: C
Removing the vine every year stopped it from spreading further, so "checked" means halted. The more common meaning "examined" does not fit, because inspecting a vine would not limit its spread.
-
Question 8
Before lending money for the new bakery, the bank reviewed the owner's business plan and judged it financially sound: the projected costs were realistic, and the expected income would cover them.
As used in the text, what does the word "sound" most nearly mean?
Correct answer: B
Realistic costs and enough income describe a plan that is reliable, or solid. The meaning "loud" relates to noise and has nothing to do with a business plan.
-
Question 9
Residents had long regarded the old factory as an eyesore, so the plan to turn it into a public market was met with ______ approval rather than the protests officials had expected.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Correct answer: D
Residents disliked the old building, so most of them welcomed the change, and the approval was widespread. "Hostile approval" contradicts itself, and nothing suggests the approval was hidden.
-
Question 10
The documentary's narrator remains ______ throughout, presenting both the farmers' and the developers' arguments without signaling which side she favors.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
Correct answer: A
Presenting both sides without showing a preference is the definition of being impartial. "Indignant" and "enthusiastic" describe strong feelings, which the narrator avoids showing.
Questions you leave blank are not counted as wrong.
More Reading and Writing tests
Reading and WritingSAT Reading and Writing Practice Test: Command of EvidenceCommand of Evidence10 questions12 min Reading and WritingSAT Reading and Writing Practice Test: Information and IdeasInformation and Ideas11 questions13 minReading and WritingSAT Reading and Writing Practice Test: Craft and StructureCraft and Structure11 questions13 minReading and WritingSAT Reading and Writing Practice Test: Expression of IdeasExpression of Ideas11 questions13 minReading and WritingSAT Reading and Writing Practice Test: Standard English ConventionsStandard English Conventions11 questions13 minReading and WritingSAT Reading and Writing Practice Test: Full Module (27 Questions)Full Module: All Four Domains27 questions32 minReading and WritingSAT Reading and Writing Practice Test: Hard Module (27 Questions)Hard Second Module: All Four Domains27 questions32 min