ASVAB CampMultiple-Meaning Words flashcards
8 cards with the formulas, rules and traps from this lesson. Answer in your head, then flip to check.
Term · 1/8
Polysemy vs. homographs: what is the difference?
Polysemy: one word with several related senses from a shared core (head of a person, line or company). Homographs: separate, unrelated words with the same spelling (bass the fish, bass the low sound).
Term · 2/8
What is a collocation, and how does it help pick a word's sense?
Words that habitually travel together. The partner calls up one sense: 'pay a fine' means penalty, 'fine sand' means small grains; 'run a business' means manage, 'run a fever' means have.
Strategy · 3/8
What is the five-step sense-selection method?
Read the whole sentence; decide the part of speech; find partner words (object, modifier, preposition); predict a short meaning; pick the matching choice and confirm by swapping it into the sentence.
Common trap · 4/8
What is the primary-definition trap?
Tests often use a less common sense and offer the familiar meaning as a distractor. 'Adjourned until Monday' means suspended to resume later, not canceled.
Common trap · 5/8
Why shouldn't the sentence's general topic decide a word's meaning?
Topic only suggests possibilities. In 'a bill listing the charge for the new outlet', the topic is electrical but charge means a price. The words grammatically tied to the tested word decide.
Rule · 6/8
Substitution check vs. entailment check: what does each test?
Substitution: does the choice fit grammatically and sound natural in place of the word? Entailment: does the sentence still say the same thing? 'Strike the comment' means delete; 'hit' fails entailment.
Fact · 7/8
How can a preposition after the word decide its sense? Give examples.
'Object to' means oppose; 'charged with' means accused or assigned a duty; 'yield to' means give way. The verb's object also matters: 'conduct a test' is perform, 'conduct heat' is transmit.
Fact · 8/8
How do stress and pronunciation separate senses of MINUTE, REFUSE and CONTENT?
MIN-ute: 60 seconds; my-NOOT: extremely small. re-FUSE: decline; REF-use: trash. con-TENT: satisfied; CON-tent: what something contains.