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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Flags of the World - Print and Cursive Alphabet Line
Display the alphabet in print or cursive with a unique Flags of the World Alphabet Line.
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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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Wheely Wonderful Words – Emotional States Vocabulary
A word wheel of synonyms and similar words used to describe emotional states.
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Using Words with Prefixes - Worksheet Pack
Practise using the prefixes Un-, Re-, Mis-, Pre-, Dis-, and In- with a pair of printable prefix worksheets.
- Free Plan
Prefix Puzzles - Match Up Cards
Practise building, reading, and understanding the meaning of words with prefixes with a fun set of prefix puzzles.
- Free Plan
Common Prefixes - Domino Game
Identify new words that include common prefixes with 28 prefixes and root word dominoes.
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Disappearing Ice Cream Sundae (Hangman Alternative)
Use this alternative to hangman with your students when practising new vocabulary or wanting to play a fun game to finish a lesson.
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Words with Prefixes Worksheet - Prefix Re-
Build students' understanding of the prefix re-.with a printable prefix worksheet.
- Free Plan
Partner Sentence Challenge Worksheet
A teaching resource to help students consolidate the students’ knowledge of grammar and brainstorm vocabulary for writing.
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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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Which Homophone? Interactive Game
Add some excitement to your vocabulary lessons with an interactive game exploring homophones and their definitions.
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Affixes Puzzle Activity
Build words with affixes with a pack of printable word-building puzzles.
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Suffix Stars - Interactive Suffix Review
Practice reading and spelling plural nouns with an engaging Google Slides digital learning activity.
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Find The Imposter! Interactive Suffix Game
Practice using the suffixes -s and -es to pluralize words with an exciting FInd the Imposter Interactive activity.
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Prefixes and Suffixes Quiz
Assess your students’ knowledge of prefixes and suffixes with a vocabulary quiz.
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Spelling Strategies - Anchor Charts
Remind your students of the different spelling strategies with a set of spelling strategy posters.
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Prefix Bingo
Match prefix words to their definition by identifying the meaning of the prefix and the root word with a fun game of BINGO.
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Synonyms and Antonyms - Build a Sentence Interactive
Build a strong vocabulary and sentence-writing skills with an interactive synonyms and antonyms sentence-building activity.
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Strong Verbs Word Wall
Print a set of strong verbs word wall cards to help your students boost their writing skills!
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Vocabulary Dice Roll Activity
6 vocabulary activities to use with a range of words.
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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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Fast Finisher Vocabulary Task Cards - Upper Grades
A set of 30 vocabulary task cards.
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Word of the Week Flip Book - Year 1
A 43 page flip book for introducing new vocabulary to year 1 students.
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Name That Homophone! Interactive Activity
Get students to recognise the correct spelling of common homophones with this engaging digital resource perfect for vocabulary lessons.
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Prefixes and Suffixes Flipbook
Review and assess prefix and suffix knowledge with a printable vocabulary flipbook.
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Greek and Latin Root Words - Illustrated Word Wall
Use word wall displays to build student vocabulary with daily exposure to Greek and Latin root words.
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Using a Thesaurus - Synonym Activities
Learn to use a thesaurus to find synonyms with a handy thesaurus anchor chart and differentiated scavenger hunt worksheet pack.
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Roots Graphic Organiser Template
Use this graphic organiser to explore roots and their origins.
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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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Soccer Cloze Worksheet
A vocabulary cloze worksheet about soccer.
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Spelling Double Consonant Words - Word Building Cards
Practise spelling and building words that need double consonants when adding suffixes with a word-building activity.
- Plus Plan
-Less Suffixes Worksheet
Build vocabulary skills with a suffix worksheet featuring the suffix -less.