Using a dictionary
English · Key Stage 2 · The School
More than spelling
A dictionary entry gives you more than a spelling. It gives you the MEANING. It often gives the word class — noun, verb, adjective. Sometimes it gives an example sentence too. Read the whole entry, not just the word itself, to get the full picture of how a word is actually used.
Alphabetical order, to the second and third letter
Words are ordered alphabetically. For words starting with the same letter, look at the SECOND letter. "Cat" comes before "cup", because A comes before U. If the second letters match too, look at the third, and so on until one letter finally differs.
Guide words
At the top of a dictionary page, two GUIDE WORDS show the first and last word on that page. Check the guide words before searching the whole page — if your word falls between them alphabetically, it is on this page, and you can stop turning pages right away and start reading the entry.
You read the word "enormous" in a book and are not sure what it means. Open the dictionary near the E section. Check the guide words on a page — do they bracket "enormous" alphabetically? If not, flip forward or back. Found it: "enormous, adjective: very large in size or amount." Now you know the word class (adjective) and the meaning, not just how it is spelled. That is a much more useful outcome than confirming a spelling you already half-knew, and it is the whole reason a dictionary is worth opening in the first place, not just a book to check a hunch.