6th grade compare and contrast worksheets

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Sixth grade compare and contrast worksheets go past listing likenesses and differences. Each passage sets two subjects side by side, such as comets and asteroids or two cousins remembering one campout. Questions ask why the author paired them, what a signal word like whereas is doing, and how details from separate paragraphs fit together.

Free printable PDF worksheet.

Each click picks one of the 15 passages written for this grade. Every sheet comes with its answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of passages you'll get

Read the passage. Then circle the letter of the best answer for each question.

By Hand and by Press

Today a machine can print a book in minutes. Six hundred years ago in Europe, making a single book could take a person months. Comparing the old way of making books with the new way that replaced it shows why the change mattered so much.…

  1. How were hand-copied books and printed books alike? Both used ink and needed skilled workers. · Both could be made in many identical copies. · Both were written by monks with quill pens. · Both were first invented in the city of Mainz.

    Answer: Both used ink and needed skilled workers.

  2. How were hand-copied books and printed books different? Hand copies varied, while printed copies came out the same. · Printed copies varied, while hand copies came out the same. · Hand copies used ink, while printed copies used none at all. · Hand copies were quick to make, while printed copies took months.

Each print picks one of the 15 passages written for this grade, and its questions come with it. With 15 to pick from, a second print can land on one you've used, so check the title before you hand it out.

What's on a 6th grade sheet

6th grade sheets draw from 15 passages, 298 to 329 words long. All 15 are on 5th grade sheets too, along with 10 more.

Some of the titles: Comets and Asteroids, What You Get and What You Expect, Two Plants Without Flowers, Not Just a Bigger Bunny, Clicks and Voices, The Slow Sculptors.

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

How to teach this

Start with why. After reading, ask your student what the author wanted readers to notice by pairing these two things, and get the answer in one sentence. Then hunt signal words: circle however, whereas, unlike and on the other hand, box both and similarly, and say what each one sets up. Many answers sit half in one paragraph and half in another, so teach your student to check both before choosing.

Watch for: Kids latch onto differences and skip what the two things share. The alike questions are usually the ones that need a second look at the passage. A fact about only ONE of the two things answers neither kind of question. If the passage says it about just the frog, it is not a both answer, no matter how true it is.

Common questions about 6th grade compare and contrast

How is sixth grade compare and contrast different from fifth grade?
Sixth graders explain why a comparison is there, not only what it finds. They name the author's point in pairing two subjects, read signal words such as whereas and on the other hand, and combine details from different paragraphs.
Why do some wrong answers look right?
Usually because they are true of one subject and not the other. A detail that fits only the comet can't answer a question about what comets and asteroids share, so have your child test each choice against both subjects.

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Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 241, updated October 2026.

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