Help students practice identifying and thinking of antonyms with this thought-provoking worksheet.
Opposites attract, they say.
This is why, if you’re going to talk about synonyms with your students, our antonyms practice worksheet is your next step for building budding wordsmiths.
Understanding opposites boosts vocabulary skills and helps your learners become better at describing things in their world. Studying antonyms also challenges students to recognize the importance of word selection in sentences to convey the right meaning, encouraging students to access their critical thinking skills.
How to Use This Worksheet with Your Students
This opposite words worksheet would best be used as independent practice. But it can also be done as a class or as a reading center activity. (See below for ideas.). It could also be a fun way for students to compare antonyms and see what they come up with at the end.
An answer key is provided for the first section, but answers will vary for the second one.
Additional Activities to Get Kids Thinking in Opposites
This isn’t any old worksheet! We’ve got more ideas for how to turn this fun antonym exercise into more activities for independent practice and group learning:
Antonym Brain Buster
As a small group or full class, challenge your students to think of as many additional words as possible to the antonyms at the top of the page. Say each word out loud, one at a time, and talk about the definition. Then, give the students 30 seconds (you keep time) to think of as many antonyms for that word as they can. When the time is up, you can call on students to give you some examples of words they came up with, and even let them compare their answers to see if there are any matching words amongst classmates.
Group Lesson
Using your smartboard or another projection device, present the entire sheet so that your students can see both the sentences and the antonym choices at the top of the page. Work through the sentences together as a whole class. When you get the correct word, write it on the line for students to see.
When you get to the bottom section, use the game above to come up with as many antonyms as you can for the underlined words.
Exit Activity
Get out your scissors (or use our Editable Exit Tickets) to create a quick assessment of how each of your students is feeling about the day’s antonyms lesson. You can use either the first or second sections to cut each row into strips. Then, hand each student one question they’ll answer on their own to determine how comfortable they are with the content.
How to Extend This Activity or Bring Others up to Speed
Got fast finishers? Students who finish this opposites worksheet early can be asked to create their own pairs of antonyms on the backside of the paper. You can also request they write a silly paragraph swapping in the words that mean the opposite of what they want to say. Brave students may enjoy reading their paragraphs out loud to the class and letting the group decide by their giggles.
You can support students who are struggling to understand the concept by using this activity with a small group. Additionally, we recommend adding your own words to the bottom section of the worksheet to give students a clearer choice of words to select just as they will in the top section.
Preparing This Resource for Your Students
Because this download includes the answer sheet, we recommend printing one copy of the entire file first. Then, make photocopies of the blank worksheets for students to fill out on their own.
Before You Download
Use the drop-down menu to choose between the PDF or Google Slides version. An answer key is included in the download.
This resource was created by Kelli Goffredi, a teacher in Texas and a Teach Starter Collaborator.
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