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!
- Plus Plan
Homophones in the Dictionary Worksheets
Help your students become familiar with the meanings and spellings of common homophones with this differentiated dictionary skills worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Defining Homophones Matching Game
Help your students become familiar with the meanings and spellings of common homophones with this set of 36 differentiated matching cards.
- Plus Plan
Prefixes and Suffixes - Colour By Code Worksheets
Practise identifying words with affixes with a fun colour-by-code worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Plural Suffix Stars – Digital Activity
Practice reading and spelling plural nouns with an engaging Google Slides digital learning activity.
- Plus Plan
Prefixes and Suffixes Quiz
Assess your students’ knowledge of prefixes and suffixes with a vocabulary quiz.
- Plus Plan
Using Suffixes - Grammar Worksheet
Review concepts related to suffixes with a printable grammar worksheet.
- Plus Plan
-Less Suffixes Worksheet
Build vocabulary skills with a suffix worksheet featuring the suffix -less.
- Plus Plan
Morphemic Word Families PowerPoint
Teach students about base words, prefixes and suffixes and how these are used to create morphemic families in a clear and simple way.
- Plus Plan
Prefixes Mini Anchor Charts
Give your students a visual reminder of the meanings of 36 different prefixes with a printable set of miniature prefix anchor charts.
- 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
Prefix and Suffix Gallery Walk Activity
Get your students up and learning about prefixes and suffixes with an engaging gallery walk activity.
- Plus Plan
Prefixes Practice – Interactive Activity
Practise adding prefixes to words by identifying, defining, and matching them in context.
- Free Plan
Prefixes Domino Game
Identify new words that include common prefixes with 28 prefixes and root word dominoes.
- Plus Plan
Synonyms and Antonyms PowerPoint
Use this synonyms and antonyms PowerPoint to expand your students’ vocabularies and teach them about the nuances between words.
- Plus Plan
Synonyms and Antonyms Practice Worksheets
Boost vocabulary skills with daily review worksheets on synonyms and antonyms.
- Plus Plan
Dictionary Definitions Match Up Game
A set of 20 word cards for students to match to their definition.
- Plus Plan
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.
- Plus Plan
Synonym Poster Pack - Emotions Chart Display
Blend social-emotional learning and vocabulary building activities with a set of 15 emotional synonyms anchor charts.
- Plus Plan
Synonym Worksheets
Practise identifying and using synonyms with a set of four synonym worksheets for students in Year 4.
- Plus Plan
Year 2 Synonym Worksheets
Practise identifying and using synonyms with a set of four synonym worksheets for Year 2 students.
- Plus Plan
Greek and Latin Roots – Card Kaboom!
Explore Greek and Latin word origins with this hand-on card game.
- Plus Plan
Prefixes, Suffixes and Roots - Dictionary Hunt Worksheet
Investigate the morphological meanings of word-parts with this dictionary hunt.
- Free Plan
Morphology Match-Up Game
Consolidate your morphology lessons by ensuring students understand word parts terminology and the meanings of different word parts.
- Plus Plan
Time Prefixes Worksheet Pack – Re, Pre, Mid and Post
Download this prefix worksheet pack to help students use time prefixes such as re, pre, mid and post across a range of contexts.
- Plus Plan
Finding Word Meaning In Context - Word Detective Worksheet
A teaching resource to help teach your students how to find word meaning in context.
- Plus Plan
Introduction to Homophones Teaching Slides
Teach your students how to use homophones correctly in their writing with this comprehensive set of teaching slides.
- Plus Plan
Homophones Bingo
Make learning about homophones and their definitions an engaging whole-class activity with this homophones bingo game.
- Plus Plan
Plural Rules Poster Pack
Make plural rules a breeze to understand with plural noun posters.
- Plus Plan
Prefixes Interactive Activity
Use this Prefix digital activity in your classroom to support your students as they explore how prefixes change word meaning.
- Plus Plan
Shades of Meaning in Adverbs Worksheet Pack
Use this adverbs worksheet pack to help students explore the subtle shades of meaning in words and confidently choose precise language in their writing.
- Plus Plan
Shades of Meaning in Antonyms Worksheet Pack
Use this antonyms worksheet pack to teach your students about three different types of antonyms: binary, gradable and relational.
- Plus Plan
Shades of Meaning in Synonyms Poster
Teach shades of meaning in words with an instructional poster perfect for Year 4 classrooms.