1-page Vocabulary Printables

A precise, elevated word for the grief-worn calm of bereaved parents; the excerpt turns on it ('expectation gave place to resignation') and even glosses its near-synonym, so the meaning is both central and inferable.

Vivid verb carrying the father's blind terror as he feels for the paw in the dark - concrete, physical, and easy to test from a self-contained excerpt.

The collapse at the news of Herbert's death, where 'senseless heap' is fully supported by 'Unconscious... like a sightless man'.

The story's harrowing final cry; an accessible word lifted by an unforgettable excerpt of grief and dread.

The story's cruel irony in one word - the firm's payment for a dead son; thematically pivotal and clearly defined by 'a certain sum' for the son's services.

A sharp, high-value word for horror, cleanly signalled by the outburst 'you are mad!' and the tag 'he cried'.

The knock that opens the climax; a useful word whose meaning is clear from 'A loud knock... through the house'.

The 'die out' sense nicely embodied by the guttering candle, stretching an everyday word into vocabulary worth teaching.

The less-familiar 'flinch/jump' sense of a common word, well-cued by 'nervously at the sound of a door banging'; earns a slot partly to anchor the tale's uneasy opening.

The hinge of the plot - Mr. White's doubtful hesitation over the first wish; a strong word brought into the top ten to represent the wishing itself.

liability: A strong legal word, but its excerpt shares the very sentence that defines 'compensation', so the set is better off spending only one slot on that speech.

assent: A clean word for silent agreement, but its beat - the visitor confirming Herbert is hurt - sits inside a death-news scene already carried by 'compensation'; a close call held back to widen the set.

bawled: A lively verb for a shout, but a lower-stakes moment (grumbling about the weather) than the words above.

enthralled: Apt for the family's rapt attention to the soldier's tales; edged out on dramatic weight.

instalment: Serviceable but plain in context ('a second instalment of the soldier's adventures'); just short of a slot.

marred: A good word, but the wink-spoiled solemnity is a minor comic beat.

frivolous: A fitting label for the joking Herbert, yet a light moment with limited testing depth.

apparel: The 'clothing' sense is clear, but it rides on an incidental domestic detail.

mutilated: A strong, grim word, though its horror is largely implied and it competes with more excerpt-anchored terror words above.

apathy: Defined right in the excerpt as a near-synonym of 'resignation', which both aids and undercuts it - too close to the higher-ranked word to earn its own slot.