Vocabulary Teaching Resources
Explore vocabulary games, printable worksheets, cloze reading activities, task cards and more primary school teaching resources designed to help you help your students build their vocabulary skills!
This extensive collection of teaching resources has been created by teachers for teachers like you. Aligned to the Australian curriculum, the collection includes word-of-the-week activities, teaching presentations and more to save primary teachers time on lesson planning.
Created by expert teachers, each resource in this English collection has been carefully reviewed and curated by our team. That means it's ready to use in the classroom! You'll even find editable resources, plus differentiated options.
New to teaching this part of the English curriculum, or just looking for fresh ways to engage your students? Read on for a primer from our teaching team, including some vocabulary teaching techniques and tips for teaching this important part of the curriculum to your primary students.
What Is Vocabulary?
It may seem obvious, but let's start at the beginning.
In a primary school context, vocabulary can be defined as the set of words that a student is expected to know and understand. It includes not just the words themselves but also their meanings, spellings and how to use them in different contexts.
Teaching vocabulary at this level is focused on the development of a strong foundation of language skills, which will serve our students well as they continue to learn and communicate throughout their lives.
Vocabulary Teaching Techniques to Try in Your Classroom
Teaching vocabulary at the primary school level involves a host of different techniques to help students learn new words. Some of those include:
- Providing definitions and examples of words
- Using visual aids to help students understand new words
- Encouraging students to use new words in their writing
- Teaching students to use context clues to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words
- Teaching students strategies to decode new words they encounter, including the introduction of common prefixes, suffixes and root words
Students need both explicit and implicit vocabulary instruction in primary school to learn new words as they will build a strong foundation of words, not just by picking them up while reading and listening to others, but also through direct instruction.
Teaching Vocabulary in Primary School
Teaching vocabulary for the first time? Here are some topics you can expect to cover, depending on your year level!
- Basic high-frequency words
- Vocabulary related to specific subjects
- Words with multiple meanings (and how to use them in context)
- Synonyms and antonyms
- Prefixes and suffixes
- Root words
- Words with irregular spellings and pronunciation
Vocabulary Teaching Ideas
Looking for some ideas to get your students excited about vocabulary? In addition to the teacher-created resources in this collection, here are a few favourite ideas from our teacher team!
Erase a Word Pronunciation Challenge
In this pronunciation game, you can select word lists related to current units or use a high frequency word list to improve student vocabulary.
Supplies
- 3 whiteboard erasers
- Vocabulary list(s)
How to Play
- Break students into three teams, and have them stand in lines in front of your whiteboard.
- Write three lists of words onto the board — one list in front of each team.
- On the teacher's signal, the first person from each team goes up to the board and reads aloud one of the words on the list.
- If they get the word correct, they erase the word and go to the back of their team's line.
- The first team to erase all of the words on their list is the winner.
A-Z Vocabulary Relay Race
This is a fun, physical vocabulary game that is great to play outdoors or in a large multi-purpose area. Students play in teams, racing to complete a list of words (one for every letter of the alphabet) around a familiar topic or theme.
Supplies
- pens or pencils
- A4 paper
- tape
How to Play
- Divide students into mixed-ability teams of 4 to 5 students.
- Students stand in a line on one side of the space. On the other side of the space, place a pen or pencil and tape to the ground a sheet of paper with the letters A-Z listed down the side.
- Choose a topic that the students are familiar with. This will be the theme for all the words the students write on their A-Z list. Alternatively, you can choose a unit you're currently studying as your topic.
- The race begins with the leader running to the paper and writing a word beginning with the letter A that is related to the theme. Once they've written the word — spelled correctly — they run back to their team.
- The next team member runs up to the paper and writes a word beginning with B, before running back to their team so a teammate can go up to write a word starting with C, and so on.
- If a student cannot come up with a word, they can call a friend to help. If they still can't come up with a word, they can call the teacher for help.
- Teams continue this word relay until they have written a word for every letter. The first team to complete their word list (and have it verified by the teacher!) are the winners.
Snake Words
In this game, students work in teams (similar to the A-Z relay detailed above) to create a word snake on the board. Students have a limited time (e.g. 10 seconds) to write their word or their team risks being eliminated.
Supplies
- 4 -5 different coloured whiteboard markers or chalk
- a timer or stopwatch
How to Play
- Split students into 4 to 5 mixed-ability teams of equal numbers.
- Have each team select a leader and send them to the classroom whiteboard.
- Team leaders should take a coloured marker and stand in a line.
- The teacher begins the game by writing a letter of the alphabet on the board, and starting the timer.
- The first team leader writes a word beginning with that letter and must complete the word within the time limit. For example, if the teacher wrote the letter G, they might write galaxy. Then they hand their marker to the next person in their team.
- The second team leader uses the last letter of the previous word as the first letter of the next word, also within the time limit. Using the example word above, the next student may write 'yoghurt.' Then they hand their marker to the next person from their team. Note: Students write the words without spaces, in essence creating a word snake. E.g. galaxyoghurt
- If a student cannot come up with a word within the time limit, they can pass it to the next team member, but you should set a limit to the number of passes each team can have. After this, the team is eliminated.
- The last team standing is the winner!
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Homophones Match-Up Cards
Teach your students the meanings and spellings of some common homophones with this set of 32 match-up cards.
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Greek and Latin Roots – Illustrated Word Wall
Use word wall displays to build student vocabulary with daily exposure to Greek and Latin root words.
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Size Prefixes Worksheet Pack
Teach size prefixes with this comprehensive worksheet pack that helps students understand how prefixes change the meaning of words through a collection of engaging activities.
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Number and Measurement Prefixes Worksheet Pack
Help your students master number and measurement prefixes with this comprehensive worksheet pack, which uses a collection of engaging activities to show how prefixes change word meaning.
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Verb Suffixes Teaching Slides (s, ed, ing)
Teach verb suffixes to your class with ease using this engaging slide deck that helps students understand when to apply the suffixes -s, -ed and -ing to change verb tense.
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Prefix and Suffix Search Worksheets
Build confident vocabulary and word‑study skills with this engaging Prefixes & Suffixes Search Worksheet Pack.
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Prefix Worksheet Pack - Year 2
Use this Prefix Worksheet Pack as an engaging prefix activity for Year 2 that teach students how to use the most common prefixes—un‑, re‑, mis‑, dis‑, and pre‑.
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Shades of Meaning in Adjectives Worksheet Pack
Enhance your students’ vocabulary choices with this adjectives worksheet pack, designed to help your students explore the subtle differences in words.
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Base Word Sorting Activity
Use this Base Word Sorting activity to help students sort words based on their root words.
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Context Clues Reading Comprehension Handouts
Use Context Clues Reading Comprehension Handouts to assess your student's ability to define unknown words using context clues.
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Printable Vocabulary Word Matrix Templates
Use a printable vocabulary word matrix template to help your students organise and remember important vocabulary words.
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Vocabulary Graphic Organisers
Use printable vocabulary graphic organisers to help your upper-primary students develop their academic and conversational vocabulary skills.
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Shades of Meaning in Verbs Worksheet Pack
Teach your students about the shades of meaning in verbs through engaging worksheets that help students distinguish subtle differences between similar words.
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Wheely Wonderful Words – Dialogue Tags
Spice up your students' writings and help them choose better dialogue tags with a ‘Wheely’ Wonderful Dialogue Tag Spinner.
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Homophone Mandala Flower Worksheets
Have your students create a colourful mandala flower while simultaneously demonstrating their understanding of common homophones.
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Make It Plural Interactive Activity
Help children grasp the tricky concept of pluralising nouns with an interactive Google Slides activity.
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Colour the Synonyms and Antonyms Worksheet
Explore vocabulary with this synonyms and antonyms worksheet for Year 4 students.
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Wheely Wonderful Words – Emotional States
A word wheel of synonyms and similar words used to describe emotional states.
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Wheely Wonderful Words – Overused Verbs
Get rid of those overused verbs with a word wheel of synonyms.
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Their, There, They're Poster
Teach students to differentiate between their, there and they're with this classroom poster.
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Suffix -Able - Grammar Worksheet
Transform your students’ vocabulary skills with our skill-building English worksheets, featuring the powerful “-able” suffix
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Homophones Practice Workbook 1
Strengthen your students’ ability to recognise homophones in context with this set of 6 worksheets with answers.
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What Is Etymology? Teaching Slides
Explore word origins with this teaching presentation that helps students unlock the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary by learning how Greek and Latin roots shape thousands of words in English.
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Shades of Meaning in Nouns Worksheet Pack
Elevate student vocabulary with a noun worksheet pack that helps learners explore shades of meaning and choose more precise words in their writing.
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Affix Puzzle Activity - Prefixes and Suffixes
Build words with affixes with a pack of printable word-building puzzles.
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Everyday Objects Vocabulary Charts
Use these Everyday Objects Vocabulary Charts in the Year 1 classroom to develop awareness of different vocabulary.
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Detective Base Word Game Cards
Explore vocabulary and word-building skills with this engaging base word game resource using Detective Base Word Game Cards.
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Immigration Vocabulary List & Activity Pack
Download our immigration vocabulary list and printable vocabulary activities to teach your students about human migration and immigration.
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Word Detective Worksheet - Context Clues
Assign our Word Detective Worksheet to give your students extra practice in using context clues to find the meaning of unfamiliar words.
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Word of the Week PowerPoint - Year 2 Vocabulary Words
A 40 slide PowerPoint Template for introducing new vocabulary to year 2 students.
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Year 3 Vocabulary Word of the Week PowerPoint
A 40 slide PowerPoint Template for introducing new Year 3 vocabulary words.
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Homophones Tarsia Puzzle
Challenge your students to identify and match pairs of homophones with this differentiated Tarsia puzzle, perfect for your primary school vocabulary lessons.