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Subject Words in Context is a free printable Grade 3 English worksheet on working out a domain-specific word from the text, aligned to Common Core standard RI.3.4. It prints 2 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two pupils in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 16 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Subject Words in Context

RI.3.4

NameDate

Read the text, then answer the questions.

1.Read the text, then answer the questions.

How a Canal Lock Works

A canal cannot run uphill. Where the land rises, engineers build a lock: a chamber with a gate at each end. A boat going uphill enters the lock through the lower gate. The gate closes behind it. Sluices in the upper gate are opened. Water flows in from the higher stretch of canal, and the boat rises with it. No pump is needed, because the water comes down by gravity. When the water inside matches the level above, the upper gate can be opened and the boat moves on. Going downhill, everything runs the other way: the water is let out, and the boat sinks with it.

  1. 1. What is a "sluice"?
  2. 2. What does "chamber" mean in this text?
2.Read the text, then answer the questions.

Why Swallows Leave

Swallows do not leave Britain because of the cold. They leave because of the insects. A swallow eats flying insects, and it catches them in the air. In October the insects disappear, and a bird that eats nothing else has to follow the food. So swallows fly to southern Africa: about six thousand miles, taking roughly six weeks. They travel by day and feed as they go. They lose about a third of their body weight on the way. Many do not arrive. The following spring they return, and a swallow will often nest in the very barn it hatched in.

  1. 1. What does "migration" mean?
  2. 2. What does "hatched" mean?

LessonPrint · RI.3.4 · Set 16 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Subject Words in Context

Set 16. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.1. An opening in a gate that can be opened to let water through. 2. The enclosed space between the two gates that the boat sits in.
  2. 2.1. Migration is the regular seasonal journey swallows make between Britain and southern Africa. 2. Hatched means came out of the egg, which a young swallow does before it ever migrates.

More practice for RI.3.4

Work out what a subject-specific word means in this text.

Teaching this next? Academic and Domain Words is the 40-minute plan for it, with the misconceptions to expect.

All Grade 3 worksheets

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to RI.3.4 of the Common Core State Standards for English language arts.