Dictionaries are books that alphabetically list words in a language along with their meanings. They use guide words at the top of each page to help readers quickly locate a word. Guide words tell the first and last word found on that page. Readers look at the guide words and use their knowledge of alphabetical order to determine if a word would be on that page. Dictionary entries also include the word, its pronunciation, part of speech, plural form, and definition. Abbreviations are used to make definitions more concise.

2. Dictionaries are
books that list all
the words in a
language.
A dictionary is a
type of index.

3. An index is an alphabetized
list of names, places, or
subjects in a printed work,
giving the location or pages
on which each item is
mentioned.

4. To make
dictionaries easier
to use, the words
are organized in
alphabetical order.

5. Let’s practice arranging
these words in
alphabetical order.
mile milk milking
military mildew mild
middle might microwave

6. Answer:

7. Since there are so many
words in a dictionary,
guide words are used to
help you locate a word
quickly.
What are guide
words?

8. Guide words are
found at the top of
each page. They tell
you the first and last
word that is found
on that page.

10. How do guide words
help you find a word
quickly?each word
Instead of looking at
on a page, which could take
forever, you just look at the
guide words and then use what
you know about alphabetizing
words to decide if your word
would be found on that page.

11. Let’s pretend you
are looking up the
word, science. First
we would turn to the
S section

12. Then you would use
the guide words and
what you know about
alphabetizing words
to decide the correct
page in the S
section.

13. You would look at the
guide words at the
top of each page and
decide between which
ones our word would
come in alphabetical
order.

14. Let’s do that for the
word science-
Which one of
these pages
would contain
the word

15. science
The page with the guide words-
stamp - summer
Or the page with the words-
sandwich - seventy

16. science
The page with the guide words-
stamp - summer
Or the page with the words-
 sandwich -
seventy

17. Dictionary entries have
multiple parts: entry term,
pronunciation, part of
speech, plural spelling, and
definition.

18. Entry Format

19. Dictionaries use abbreviations, or
shortened forms of words to make
definition lengths more
manageable.
adj. Adjective inter. interjection
adv. Adverb n. noun
approx. Approminately pl. Plural
Brit. British prep. Preposition
def. Definite sl. Slang
e.g. For example s.o. Someone
esp. Especially sth. Something
indef. Indefinite usu. Usually
inf. Informal v. verb