Free Vocabulary Worksheets

Around the House

Beginners in any language learn the words for items in their homes. It is a common lexical set and there are a lot of ways to teach it. Using worksheets like those in this set allows the teacher to bring variety to the classroom. Pair and group work with these sheets as a base makes the class come alive and in turn make the words more memorable for the students.

These worksheets are challenging enough for a mixed level classroom and offer the repetition needed for this new word list to be integrated into the students’ growing vocabulary. Students will be engaged because they will be having fun as they work together to complete these exercises.

Egypt and the January 25th Revolution

The world was gripped by the Arab Spring, including the revolution in Egypt. The revolution was propelled by a remarkable cast of characters all over the country and is sure to be part of any social studies curriculum. These worksheets help to differentiate the names and places that rose to prominence during this time. This set is geared towards advanced classes and many of the sheets do not have word banks for the students to rely on. They must use the clues to complete the exercises.

Learning foreign names and places is often a struggle for students because they don’t have a strong frame of reference. This set of worksheets introduces the key figures and places of the revolution and exposes students to different words in different groupings. Students will be able to identify a person and their role and the most widely known places and symbols of those historic 18 days in Egypt. Teachers can use these sheets as warmers to find out how much their students know before the lesson even begins and later as a way to consolidate their teaching.

Commonly Confused Words

ESL students and native speakers alike will find this set of worksheets useful. English is filled with words that either sound similar or look the same. These sheets make students practice the difference between words that are easily confused. They will see the same words in different contexts and practice using them in a variety of ways. They will focus on each aspect of the words, from the shapes to the length along with the meaning.

Teachers can use these exercises to test their students before proceeding with the lesson and again after to see how much they’ve absorbed. These worksheets can also be used to introduce a larger lesson practicing this set of words. ESL students will be on their way to fluency and native speakers will increase their vocabularies.

Transportation

Learning a mountain of new vocabulary often overwhelms students. It can also be a struggle for teachers to find new ways to introduce and practice vocabulary. This set of ten worksheets makes vocabulary practice a lot easier for both teachers and students. Teachers benefit because the words are all centered on one common theme – transportation. Teaching one lexical set at a time and practicing it helps students remember more.

Worksheets play an important role in consolidating what was taught in the classroom. You can teach transportation vocabulary with pictures and role play, and then drill the meanings with a variety of exercises. Practicing the same vocabulary in different exercises exposes the students to different ways of looking at the same word. This exposure helps them remember the words and incorporate them into their growing vocabulary.

By the Sea

The “By the Sea” theme fits with the content of many course books. The association with holidays, animals and recreation makes it an engaging topic for many students without being specifically oriented to a particular age group. This theme would fit into lessons based around holidays, travel, recreation, geography, animals, especially marine animals, sports and possibly food

You may need to introduce some of the words, such as “sedimentation”, to the class before proceeding with an activity. This is especially true if students are lower intermediate students or younger children. In general, the sheets are best used after studying the vocabulary.

Be ready to answer questions and provide clues if necessary to help groups with each activity. The pictures on each sheet provide additional clues, and you can augment them with your own pictures of beach activities, boats, fish and anything else related to the sea.

Getting Around

The "Getting Around" worksheets are based on transport; a theme that ESL learners should know well. Course books, and even phrasebooks, introduce transport vocabulary early on because it is essential for navigating in a foreign country. These sheets build on basic vocabulary introducing more unusual, although not obscure words. Students are likely to already know a few of the words here, but intermediate levels will need explanations of most and advanced levels may need reminding of a few.

A couple of these words – the short form of petroleum, petrol, and caravan – have different meanings in British English. This is mentioned in the clues and provides an opportunity to discuss some of the differences between the various standard forms of English. Students should be aware that there are differences; there will almost certainly be regional differences within their own languages, and with many languages, such as Spanish, there are significant grammatical and vocabulary differences between countries. The concept won’t be new, but the details of how it works in English might be. Advanced levels in particular would benefit from covering this in class.

Two of the worksheets – Wordsearch and Word Links – have the word bank on a completely separate page because it is not necessary for the activity, no matter what the level. You can give groups the separate sheet to allow them to check their own answers after the activity.