Reading Worksheet · Grades 3–5
Compare and Contrast Worksheet
Printable compare and contrast worksheet for grades 3-5 that uses a short original passage about cats and dogs as pets to teach students to label same vs. different statements and produce their own comparing and contrasting sentences with deliberate signal words. Students practice using both, also, but, however, and unlike correctly.
Subject
Reading
Grades
Grades 3–5
Skill Focus
Compare and Contrast, reading comprehension
Lesson Length
20 minutes
Lesson Overview
About this worksheet
Compare and contrast is a two-sided skill: students need to look at the same two things and find both similarities and differences in the same reading. The reference box at the top of page 1 introduces both moves in plain language and uses an apples-vs-oranges food example so students can see comparing and contrasting in a topic that is in a different domain from the assessed passage.
The assessed passage is a short original informational paragraph about cats and dogs as pets. The first paragraph lists similarities; the second paragraph lists differences. Section A asks students to label five extracted statements with S (same) or D (different). Because every statement is drawn directly from the passage, students must reread carefully rather than rely on what they personally know about pets.
Section B asks students to write one comparing sentence and one contrasting sentence using the signal words from the reference box. That production step shifts the skill from recognition (S or D?) to composition (write a sentence that does the move), which is what compare-and-contrast prompts on standardized assessments typically require.
How to Use This Lesson
Read the reference box aloud. Discuss which apples-vs-oranges statement compares and which contrasts.
Read the cats-and-dogs passage. Have students underline one signal word in each paragraph.
Complete Section A independently. Review a few statements as a class.
Use Section B as a short writing task. Encourage students to choose a different signal word than the one in the reference example.
Discuss as a closer: when does comparing and contrasting help a reader understand a passage better?
Printable Resource
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Compare and Contrast Worksheet
Printable compare and contrast worksheet for grades 3-5 that uses a short original passage about cats and dogs as pets to teach students to label same vs. different statements and produce their own comparing and contrasting sentences with deliberate signal words. Students practice using both, also, but, however, and unlike correctly.
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