Romeo and Juliet - Vocabulary - Act I - Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues

Sep 28, 2026

Act I vocabulary learning worksheet for Romeo and Juliet, featuring sentence-level context tasks where underlined words appear in selected lines. Part I asks learners to read each sentence, use prior knowledge and contextual clues, and write inferred meanings for words 1–15. Part II then matches the same vocabulary items to provided dictionary definitions, using lookup or elimination when needed. Includes definitions for each word to support correct completion.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues

Determining meanings for vocabulary words 1-15

Part II: Determining the Meaning

Matching vocabulary words to dictionary definitions

VOCABULARY-Romeo and Juliet Act I Part I: Using Prior Knowledge and Contextual Clues Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read the sentence. Use any clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior knowledge, and write what you think the underlined words mean in the space provided. 1. Profaners ofthis neighbor-stained steel-/Will they not hear? What ho! You men, you beasts, 2. That quench the fire of your pernicious rage/With purple fountains issuing from your veins, 3. With tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew,/Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs. 4. Black and portentous must this humor prove/Unless good counsel my the cause remove. 5. Why, such is love's transgression,/Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,/ which thou wilt prorogate, to have it pressed 6. Cuts beauty off from all posterity/She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair 7. One desperate grief cures with another's languish. 8. Transparent heretics, be burned for liars! 9. Here in Verona, ladies of esteem/Are made already mother. 10. And what obscured in this fair volume lies/Find written in the margent of his eyes. 11. Too rude, too boisterous and it pricks like thorn. 12. On the forefinger of an alderman,/Drawn with a team of little atomies/ Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep- 13. Then dreams he of another benefice/Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck, 14. Thus from my lips by thine my sin is purged. 15. Too early seen unknown, and known too late!/That I must love a loathed enemy. Part II: Determining the Meaning You have tried to figure out the meanings ofthe vocabulary words for Act I. Now match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions. If there are words for which you cannot figure out the definition by contextual clues and by process of elimination, look them up in a dictionary. 1. profaners A. future generations 2. pernicious B. to dislike (someone or something) greatly 3. augmenting C. foreboding 4. portentous D. to free from impurities 5. transgression E. a member of the municipal legislative body 6. posterity F. indistinctly heard; faint 7. languish G. evil; wicked 8. heretics H. a church office endowed with fixed capital assets 9. esteem I. to become weak or feeble 10. obscured J. a violation of a law, command or duty 11. boisterous K. those who have irreverence for what is sacred 12. alderman L. regard with respect 13. benefice M. rough and stormy; violent 14. purged N. a person who holds controversial opinions 15. loathed O. to make (something already developed) greater

FAQs

What is Part I asking you to do for the Act I vocabulary words?

Read each sentence containing a vocabulary word, use contextual clues and prior knowledge, and write your inferred meaning for the underlined word.

How does Part II help you check your answers?

It provides dictionary definitions labeled A–O and asks you to match each vocabulary word 1–15 to the correct definition, using a dictionary if needed.

What types of vocabulary words are included in Act I of this worksheet?

The worksheet includes words such as profaners, pernicious, augmenting, portentous, transgression, posterity, languish, heretics, esteem, obscured, and others, all drawn from the play’s Act I lines.

Sep 28, 2026

Uploaded by PakDamar76