In paragraph 3, what does the phrase blend in mean?
Understand Words and Language Structures · TELPAS Grades 4–5 reading. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
Reporting category 1: work out what words and phrases mean from context, and understand how sentences and word forms work.
Read the passage. Then answer the questions.
The Texas Horned Lizard
The Texas horned lizard is a small, flat lizard with sharp horns on its head and short spines along its back and sides. Many people call it a “horny toad,” but it is not a toad at all. It is a reptile, and it is the official state reptile of Texas.
Horned lizards live in dry, open places with sandy or rocky ground. Their main food is harvester ants. One horned lizard can eat dozens of ants in a single day.
This lizard has some surprising ways to stay safe. Its brown and gray colors help it blend in with the ground, so a hungry hawk may fly right past it. If an enemy comes close, the lizard can puff up its body so it looks bigger and is harder to swallow. When it is in real danger, it can even squirt a thin stream of blood from the corners of its eyes. The blood tastes bad to coyotes and dogs.
Today, horned lizards are harder to find in many parts of Texas than they were years ago. Scientists think there are several reasons. Some of the land where the lizards once lived is now covered by roads and buildings, and in many areas there are fewer harvester ants for them to eat. In Texas, it is against the law to take a horned lizard from the wild or to keep one as a pet.
The question
Choose the best answer.
In paragraph 3, what does the phrase blend in mean?
- look like the things around itCorrect answer
- move fast from place to place
- mix foods together in a bowl
- make a loud sound to warn others
Why “look like the things around it” is correct
This tests a phrase with more than one meaning. The sentence gives the clue: the lizard’s "brown and gray colors" help it blend in "with the ground," so a hawk "may fly right past it." Students who know "blend" only from cooking may choose the mixing answer, so the question checks whether they use the sentence rather than a meaning they already know.
Why the other answers are wrong
- move fast from place to place — Nothing in the sentence is about speed.
- mix foods together in a bowl — This is a meaning of "blend" used in cooking, not the meaning in this paragraph.
- make a loud sound to warn others — The lizard is staying hidden, so it would not make a loud sound.
Practice more of this
More reading practice for Grades 4–5, or see the TELPAS practice test for 4th and 5th grade.
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