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
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
Suffix Stories - Morphology Passages
Practise reading, defining, and using words with suffixes with a pack of suffix-focused reading passage worksheets.
- Plus Plan
Frayer Model Template for Building Vocabulary Activity
A graphic organiser to use when learning new vocabulary words.
- Plus Plan
Wheely Wonderful Words – Overused Adjectives
Banish overused adjectives with a handy adjective-synonym word wheel!
- Plus Plan
Prefixes and Suffixes Posters
Increase vocabulary skills with anchor charts about common prefixes and suffixes.
- Plus Plan
Name That Homophone! Interactive Activity
Get students to recognise the correct spelling of common homophones with this engaging digital resource perfect for vocabulary lessons.
- Plus Plan
Homophones Poster Pack
Surround your students with examples of homophones with this set of 20 classroom posters.
- Plus Plan
Spelling Words with -s, -es, and -ies Worksheets
Practise using the inflectional endings -s, -es, and -ies with a pack of printable spelling worksheets.
- Free Plan
Plural Nouns Chart — Printable Plural Rules Guide
Help students remember the different plural rules with a handy printable guide created for teachers to hand out.
- Plus Plan
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.
- Plus Plan
Synonyms Anchor Chart Pack
Print a pack of colourful synonym posters to boost vocabulary in the classroom!
- Plus Plan
Suffix -Able - Grammar Worksheet
Transform your students’ vocabulary skills with our skill-building English worksheets, featuring the powerful “-able” suffix
- Plus Plan
Pre- Prefixes Worksheet
Boost students' understanding of the prefix pre- with a printable prefix worksheet.
- Plus Plan
Homophones Bingo
Make learning about homophones and their definitions an engaging whole-class activity with this homophones bingo game.
- Plus Plan
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.
- Plus Plan
Prefixes and Suffixes Flipbook
Review and assess prefix and suffix knowledge with a printable vocabulary flipbook.
- Plus Plan
Suffix Word Building Activity
Build words using the suffixes -ed, -es, -s, and -ing with a printable word-building pocket chart card pack.
- Plus Plan
Homophones Practice Workbook 1
Strengthen your students’ ability to recognise homophones in context with this set of 6 worksheets with answers.
- Plus Plan
Word of the Week PowerPoint - Year 4
A 40 slide PowerPoint Template for introducing new vocabulary to year 4 students.
- Plus Plan
Soccer Cloze Worksheet
A vocabulary cloze worksheet about soccer.
- Plus Plan
Homophones in Context – Interactive Activity
Review the meanings and spellings of some common homophones with this digital drag-and-drop activity for your vocabulary lessons.
- Plus Plan
Sort the Suffixes - Worksheets
Practise using the suffixes -s, -es, -ies and -ves with a pack of printable add-a-suffix worksheets.
- 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
Homophones Crossword Puzzle
Challenge your students to complete this vocabulary crossword puzzle by completing the sentences with the correct homophone.
- Plus Plan
Word of the Week PowerPoint - Year 3
A 40 slide PowerPoint Template for introducing new vocabulary to year 3 students.
- Plus Plan
Word Study Lists – Homophones
Introduce your students to the most common homophones with these two sets of comprehensive word lists.
- Plus Plan
Which Homophone? Interactive Game
Add some excitement to your vocabulary lessons with an interactive game exploring homophones and their definitions.
- Plus Plan
Rainbow Affixes - Prefix and Suffix Interactive
Define words with prefixes and suffixes with a self-checking interactive game!
- 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 - Literacy Centre
Grow your students’ vocabularies with prefix puzzles in your literacy centres.
- Plus Plan
Suffix Bingo - Vocabulary Game
Match words with suffixes to their meanings in this BINGO game.
- Plus Plan
Im- and Non- Prefixes Worksheet
Consolidate students' understanding of im- and non- prefixes with a prefix worksheet.