3rd Grade Common and Proper Nouns Worksheets

Common nouns name a general kind (river, holiday, teacher); proper nouns name a specific one and are capitalized (Lake Michigan, Thanksgiving). Third graders sort trickier pairs, including places and holidays from the grade-2 capitalization standard, and explain why each word does or doesn't get a capital.

Free printable PDF, aligned to Common Core L.2.2.a. One skill per page, answer key on page two.

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3rd Grade common and proper nouns worksheet: write each word from the bank in the correct column. give every proper noun its capital letter when you write it, with answer key — A sample 3rd grade sheet. Yours will have different sentences. Click it to print your own.

The kind of words you'll sort

Write each word from the bank in the correct column. Give every proper noun its capital letter when you write it.

ArizonaislandtruckJulyBostonforestparkRiverside Park

Columns: Common nouns and Proper nouns. "truck" belongs under common nouns; "Arizona" belongs under proper nouns.

Every print draws a fresh mix of word lists at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling gets a different sheet.

What's on each sheet

Sorting. Write each word from the bank in the correct column. Give every proper noun its capital letter when you write it. 14 words per page.

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

How to teach this

Push on the boundary cases: day/Monday, month/July, lake/Lake Michigan, school/Maplewood School. Multi-word proper nouns deserve attention since students often capitalize only the first word. When a student missorts, ask "could there be more than one of these?" More than one means common.

Watch for: A word isn't proper just because it starts a sentence with a capital. The capital has to belong to the word itself. Days, months, and holidays are proper nouns. School subjects like math are not.

Common questions about common and proper nouns

Are days of the week proper nouns?: Yes. Monday, Tuesday, and the months and holidays all name one specific thing on the calendar, so they're proper nouns with capitals. The common-noun cousins (day, month, holiday) stay lowercase. Sorting those pairs side by side is the fastest way to teach it.
What about multi-word names like Lake Michigan?: The whole name is one proper noun, and each important word gets a capital: Lake Michigan, Grand Canyon, Maplewood School. Third graders who've learned single-word proper nouns often stumble here, so our 3rd grade lists include multi-word names on purpose.

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Aligned to Common Core L.2.2.a. Reviewed by the One More Sheet curriculum team. Content version 68, updated July 2026.