6th grade vocabulary worksheets

A real sample sheet.

15 vocabulary skills at 6th grade, one sheet each, free with its answer key: absorbed prefixes (im-, il-, ir-), adages and proverbs, analogies, and more.

Most sheets change with every click. Any other skill prints from its row below. Examples and teaching notes

Word relationships

  • Analogies An analogy is a word puzzle in two pairs: work out how the first pair fits together, then finish the second pair the very same way.
  • Connotation and denotation Denotation is a word's dictionary meaning. Connotation is its glow. Slender and scrawny both mean thin; one compliments, one insults.

Prefixes and suffixes

  • Absorbed prefixes (im-, il-, ir-) The prefix in- changes its skin to match the word it joins: im- before m and p (impossible), il- before l (illegal), ir- before r (irregular). Usually it means not; sometimes it means in or into (illuminate).
  • Number prefixes (uni-, bi-, tri-) Some prefixes are numbers in disguise: uni- means one, bi- means two, tri- means three. A tricycle is a three-wheeler by name.
  • Suffixes -able and -ible -able and -ible both mean can-be: breakable can be broken, visible can be seen. If the base is a whole word, usually -able; if the base is a broken piece, usually -ible. A few rebels (flexible, sensible) take -ible after a whole word anyway, so check a dictionary when unsure.
  • Suffixes -ance and -ence -ance and -ence both turn ideas into nouns and both say the same unsure sound: distance, silence. The schwa hides the vowel, so the eye must learn each family.
  • Suffixes -ive and -ize -ive builds describing words: act becomes active. -ize builds doing words: final becomes finalize. One suffix makes adjectives, the other makes verbs.
  • Suffixes -tion and -sion -tion and -sion both turn actions into things: act becomes action, decide becomes decision. -tion usually says shun. -sion says shun in mission but zhun in vision. The base word picks the spelling.

Greek and Latin roots

  • Greek and Latin roots Old Greek and Latin word parts hide inside big English words: tele means far, so telescope, telephone, and television all reach across distance.

Figurative language

  • Adages and proverbs A proverb is a small sentence carrying old advice: the early bird catches the worm. The situation around it tells you which saying fits.
  • Figurative language A simile compares with like or as, a metaphor says one thing is another, personification gives a thing a human action, hyperbole stretches the truth, an idiom is a saying with its own meaning, onomatopoeia is a sound word, and alliteration repeats a first sound.
  • Idioms An idiom means something different from its exact words. A piece of cake means easy; raining cats and dogs means pouring. The sentence around it tells you which.
  • Personification and hyperbole Personification gives human actions to things: the wind whispered. Hyperbole exaggerates on purpose: I've told you a million times.
  • Similes and metaphors A simile compares with like or as: brave as a lion. A metaphor says one thing IS another: the classroom was a zoo.

Context clues

  • Context clues The sentence around a hard word usually hides its meaning. Read past the word, find the clue, then decide: The arid desert had not seen rain for months, so arid must mean very dry.

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