What Does Infer Mean?

Is this a question that you’ve been hearing from your students? Whether this is your first time teaching the content, or perhaps you’ve been away from this grade level for a while, let’s take a quick look at what it means to infer!

To infer is to use clues and information to make intelligent guesses or understand things that may not be explicitly stated. When teaching, this involves helping students read between the lines, use context clues, and their own knowledge to make educated guesses and understand the deeper meaning of what they’re reading or learning.

Looking For Inference Worksheets? PDF Quick Print Options!  

Teach Starter has created a worksheet where students will build their inferencing skills—in other words, they’ll draw conclusions by decoding the context clues in 6 short texts. 

This worksheet is best used as independent practise as part of your reading comprehension strategies lesson. It can also be completed with a guided small group, done as a whole class activity by projecting the worksheet via smartboard, or turned into a reading station activity. 

Get More Use Out of Drawing Inferences Worksheet 

Got fast finishers or students who need more practice? Here are a few ideas to help you change the difficulty level of this worksheet. 

Going Deeper with Inference Practise

On the back of the worksheet, ask students to brainstorm and write 1-3 scenarios. Then, have them swap papers with a classmate to make inferences. Writing can also be done in peer pairs. 

Scaffolding for Struggling Students

Pair up students to work together on thinking through the given scenarios and writing their inferences.

How to Get Your Making Inferences Worksheet – PDF and Google Slides Versions!

If you are ready to use this inference worksheet with your students, head on over to the green download button! Here, you can find the quick-print PDF file or the editable Google Slides version. If selecting the Google Slides option, please note that you will first be prompted to make a copy of the resource to your personal drive before accessing it.

Please note you can make this worksheet more sustainable by adding it to your classroom reading center. Print a few copies on cardstock and slip them into dry-erase sleeves. Students can record their answers with a whiteboard marker, then erase and reuse. 

Because students’ answers will vary based on their interpretation of the text, an answer sheet is not included with this download. 

This resource was created by Kelli Goffredi, a teacher in Texas and a Teach Starter Collaborator.

More Inferencing Activities for Your Lessons!

If you are looking to add additional reading resources to your teaching toolkit, check out some of our favorites below!

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