Word parts that build meaning: a root carries the core idea (bio = life), a prefix attached in front changes meaning (anti-, hypo-, inter-), and a suffix at the end often changes part of speech (-tion, -ology, -itis).
Greek and Latin parts recombine across thousands of words, so each memorized root pays repeatedly: -itis means inflammation, -ectomy removal, cardi- heart, derm- skin, neuro- nerve. Suffixes also signal grammar — -ly tends to make adverbs, -ous adjectives.
Sound-alike and look-alike pairs with different meanings: affect/effect, their/there/they're, your/you're, to/too/two, accept/except, then/than, lose/loose.
Most pairs are homophones, which spell-checkers cannot catch. Other regulars: principal/principle, complement/compliment, stationary/stationery, capital/capitol, and advice (noun) versus advise (verb).
Synonyms are words with nearly the same meaning (rapid/swift); antonyms are opposites (expand/contract); recognizing both is core to vocabulary items and context-clue reasoning.
Prefixes generate antonyms directly: un-, in-, dis-, and non- flip meaning, which links this skill to word-part analysis. A thesaurus habit builds the word bank that makes elimination fast on test day.
Words spelled the same with different meanings (and sometimes pronunciations): a patient may PRESENT symptoms, receive a PRESENT, or be PRESENT in the room — meaning comes from context.
Homographs share spelling (bass the fish, bass the sound — different pronunciations), while homonyms share both spelling and sound (bank of a river, bank with money). Clinical English is full of them: discharge, culture, and labor all shift meaning by context.
Diction is choosing the word whose exact meaning, connotation, and register fit the sentence — 'said' vs 'demanded,' 'thin' vs 'scrawny' — the difference between adequate and precise writing.
Connotation does the heavy lifting: ‘assertive’ praises while ‘pushy’ criticizes the same behavior. Strong diction also prefers concrete words over abstractions — ‘limped’ shows what ‘walked badly’ only tells.