2nd grade synonyms worksheets

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Synonyms are words with nearly the same meaning: happy and glad, fast and quick, small and little. Second graders match everyday pairs: every new synonym is a second way to say something they already know.

Free printable PDF worksheet.

Each print is a different sheet with its own answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of sentences you'll get

Circle the letter of the word that means almost the same.

  1. Whales live in the sea, and the deep is full of fish. ocean · puddle · garage

    Answer: ocean

  2. Rana is a fast runner, and her brother is too. quick · slow · green
  3. Another word for big is . tiny · round · large

Every print pulls a new set of sentences at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling gets a different mix.

What's on a 2nd grade sheet

2nd grade sheets draw from 60 sentences, 8 to a page. All 60 are on 3rd grade sheets too, along with 20 more. 3rd grade sheets print 10 to a page.

Some of the answers:

beginunhappymadcleverclosestorysofafathertaxiglow

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key on the last page.

How to teach this

The swap test does the teaching: read the sentence with each choice and ask whether the meaning stays the same. "The glad puppy" works where "the angry puppy" changes the story. Keep pairs concrete and familiar; the goal is the idea of synonyms, not rare vocabulary.

Watch for: Synonyms mean almost the same, not exactly the same. Big and gigantic are both large, but gigantic is bigger. A word about the same topic isn't a synonym: orange isn't a synonym for pumpkin just because pumpkins are orange.

Common questions about 2nd grade synonyms

What is a synonym in kid terms?
A word twin: two words that mean almost the same thing. Happy and glad, fast and quick, little and small. If you can swap one for the other and the sentence still means the same, they're synonyms.
Why learn synonyms at all?
Every synonym doubles a child's ways to understand and say something. A reader who knows quick can figure out speedy; a writer stuck on nice can reach for kind or friendly. It's vocabulary growth with a built-in use.

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Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 240, updated October 2026.

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