We tested 24 caregivers of preschool children to determine whether their strategies for teaching novel adjectives are consistent with children's demonstrated abilities to learn these words (e.g. Waxman & Klibanoff, 2000). On each of four trials, caregivers had to select one of two cards, both of which showed a familiar object bearing an unfamiliar property. On the within-basic card, the object was accompanied by a second object from the same basic-level category; on the across-basic card, this second object came from a different basic-level category. Caregivers' task was to choose the card that would be more helpful to teach a novel adjective for the unfamiliar property. If the second object differed from the first in terms of a novel target property, caregivers (N = 12) stated a strong preference for the within-basic card. If the two objects agreed in terms of the novel property, caregivers (N = 12) indicated a clear preference for the across-basic card. The findings offer new insight into the speed and efficiency of lexical development, by revealing that word teachers, like word learners (cf. Waxman & Klibanoff, 2000), are sensitive to the conditions under which certain contrasts (in property or in basic-level category) are effective in promoting the successful acquisition of novel adjectives.