Action verbs worksheets

By grade

• Kindergarten A gentler on-ramp
• 1st Grade Right on level
• 2nd Grade A step harder

What students need to know

An action verb tells what someone or something does.

This skill runs from kindergarten through 2nd grade. Pick a grade above for level-matched sentences, teaching notes, and worksheets.

Action verbs across the grades

Kindergarten

An action verb tells what someone or something does: run, hop, dig, sing. Kindergartners find the doing word in short read-aloud sentences, usually by acting it out first: if you can do it, it's an action word.

1st grade

First graders find the action verb in sentences they read themselves. The reliable test stays physical: the action word is the one you could act out.

2nd grade

An action verb is the word in a sentence that tells what someone or something does: runs, whispered, builds, sang. Second graders find the action word in each sentence and notice that every sentence needs a verb.