Vocabulary Teaching Resources
Build your students' vocabulary skills with printable worksheets, cloze reading activities, task cards and more elementary school teaching resources designed to help extend and improve your students' vocabularies.
This extensive collection of teaching resources has been created by teachers for teachers like you. The curriculum-aligned collection includes word-of-the-week activities, teaching presentations and more to save elementary teachers time on lesson planning.
Created by expert teachers, each resource in this ELA 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 ELA curriculum, or just looking for fresh ways to engage your students? Read on for a primer from our teaching team!
What Is Vocabulary?
It may seem obvious, but let's start at the beginning.
In an elementary 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 focuses on developing a strong foundation of language skills, which will serve our students well as they continue to learn and communicate.
Vocabulary Teaching Techniques
Teaching vocabulary at the primary school level involves various 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 Elementary School
Teaching vocabulary for the first time? Here are some topics you can expect to cover, depending on your grade 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 and Activities
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 favorite 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 it and go to the back of their team's line.
- The winner is the first team to erase all the words on their list.
A-Z Vocabulary Relay Race
This is a fun, physical vocabulary game that is great to play outside 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
- 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 colored 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 colored 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 on their team.
- The second team leader uses the previous word's last letter as the next word's first letter, also within the time limit. Using the example word above, the next student may write 'yogurt.' 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. galaxyogurt
- 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
Shades of Meaning in Synonyms Poster
Teach shades of meaning in words with an instructional poster perfect for display in elementary classrooms.
- Plus Plan
Everyday Objects Vocabulary Charts
Use these Everyday Objects Vocabulary Charts to support language development.
- Plus Plan
Halloween Analogies Worksheet Pack
Boost critical thinking and vocabulary skills with a Halloween Analogies Worksheet pack, perfect for adding some spooky fun to your ELA lesson plans.
- Plus Plan
Context Clues - Printable Word Meaning Worksheet
Download a Context Clues - Word Meaning Worksheet to help your students practice finding word meaning in context.
- Free Plan
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.
- Plus Plan
Interactive Context Clues Game - Word Detectives
Play an interactive Context Clues game to help your students practice determining the meaning of unknown words in context.
- Plus Plan
Vocabulary Sketch Note Template Pack
Review a variety of vocabulary skills and help your students build note-taking skills with our printable Vocabulary Sketch Note Template Pack.
- Plus Plan
Vocabulary Graphic Organizers - Upper Grades
Use printable vocabulary graphic organizers to help your upper-grade students develop their academic and conversational vocabulary skills.
- Free Plan
Write the Room - Paralympic Games Writing Center
Teach your students the vocabulary associated with the Paralympic Games with this interactive Write the Room activity.
- Plus Plan
Dialogue Tags List - Vocabulary Chart
Use a Dialogue Tags list to expand your students’ vocabularies and encourage better character development in their writing.
- Plus Plan
Shades of Meaning Vocabulary Posters
Support students to deepen their vocabulary understanding by exploring shades of meaning across verbs, adverbs, nouns and adjectives with engaging, classroom-ready posters.
- Plus Plan
Spot the Homophones Worksheets
Transform students into vocab detectives with this set of reading passages containing misspelled homophones.
- Plus Plan
Hunting for Homophones – SCOOT! Task Cards
Get your students to identify the correct homophones in sentences with this set of 36 task cards for your vocabulary lessons.
- Plus Plan
Homophones Clip Cards
Get your students to identify the correct homophones in sentences with this set of 24 clip cards for your vocabulary lessons.
- Plus Plan
Homophone Mandala Flower Worksheets
Have your students create a colorful mandala flower while simultaneously demonstrating their understanding of common homophones.
- Free Plan
Homophones Worksheet - Cloze Passage
Help your students select the correct homophone to use in context with this one-page cloze passage worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Prefix and Suffix Search Worksheets
Build confident vocabulary and word‑study skills with this engaging Prefixes and Suffixes Search Worksheet Pack.
- Plus Plan
Rainbow Affixes - Prefix and Suffix Game
Define words with prefixes and suffixes with a self-checking interactive game!
- Plus Plan
Plural Suffix Stars – Digital Activity
Practice reading and spelling plural nouns with an engaging Google Slides digital learning activity.
- Plus Plan
Building Words with Suffixes - Literacy Center Cards
Build words using the suffixes -ed, -es, -s, and -ing with a printable word-building pocket chart card pack.
- Plus Plan
Re- Prefix Crossword Puzzle
Review vocabulary skills and boost your students’ knowledge of the “Re-” prefix with a crossword puzzle worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Prefix Puzzles - Printable Reading Centers
Practice building, reading, and understanding the meaning of words with prefixes with fun literacy centers!
- Free Plan
Greek or Latin Root Word Graphic Organizer
Display learning about Greek and Latin roots and their origins with a crafty graphic organizer.
- Plus Plan
Greek and Latin Roots – Word Tree Anchor Charts
Encourage vocabulary development with 24 Greek and Latin root anchor charts.
- Plus Plan
Four In A Row Vocabulary Game - Suffixes
Practice matching words to their common suffixes and build vocabulary with a suffix vocabulary game.
- Plus Plan
Building Words with Suffixes Sorting Activity
Build words by matching the root word to suffixes, recording the new words on the answer sheet.
- Plus Plan
Greek and Latin Root Word Rummy - Card Game
Explore Greek and Latin roots, words, and meanings with this hands-on card game.
- Plus Plan
Prefixes and Suffixes Word Search
Practice identifying the meanings of words containing prefixes and suffixes with a fun word search activity.
- Plus Plan
Suffixes Puzzles Matchup Cards
Practice building, reading, and understanding the meaning of words with suffixes with a fun set of suffix puzzles.
- Free Plan
Synonym and Antonym Crossword Puzzle
Review vocabulary skills and boost your students’ knowledge of synonyms and antonyms with a crossword puzzle worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Synonyms Word Search Pack
Strengthen vocabulary skills with this synonym word search set that helps students compare shades of meaning and use precise language with greater confidence.
- Plus Plan
Antonyms Word Search
Download this antonyms word search set that helps students identify opposite meanings and strengthen their understanding of contrast in language.