Amethod of determining the meaning of an unknown word by examining the parts of a sentence surrounding the word for clues multiple meaning words 2. words that have several meanings depending on how they are used in a sentence suffix 3. a syllable joined to the beginning of a word to create a new word context clue 4. the main part of a word that carries its basic meaning prefix 5. a syllable added to the end of a word to form a new word root