PSAT Vocabulary Worksheets
The PSAT/NMSQT tests vocabulary the way the SAT does: a word in context, inside a short passage, with four choices. The same words, taught a year earlier. These printable worksheets teach them in lessons of twenty-five and practise them in seven formats, each with an answer key.
Grades 10-11
PSAT/NMSQT
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Word List and Test
Answer Key
With Every Sheet
Print & Go
No Prep Needed
Start here
Two of these need only a free account and the practice quiz can be taken on the page with no account at all.
A PSAT study plan that fits a semester
The list is long enough to matter and short enough to finish. This is the order that works.
Find out what is already known
The practice test’s on-page version scores itself with no account. Take it first so the lessons spend time on unfamiliar words, not familiar ones.
Twenty-five words a week
One lesson a week covers the whole list in a school semester, which is the gap between a fall PSAT and a spring SAT.
Change the format, not the words
Flashcards for recognition, matching and fill-in-the-blank for recall, the quiz and crossword for review. The same words in a new shape are the ones that stick.
Practice formats
Every format draws on the same word list, so a student can switch between them without learning a second set of words.
Frequently asked questions
Is PSAT vocabulary different from SAT vocabulary?
No. The PSAT/NMSQT uses the same Reading and Writing section design as the SAT and the same words-in-context question type, so the words worth knowing are the same words. The difference is timing: most students take the PSAT in 10th or 11th grade, a year or more before the SAT, so the vocabulary work simply starts earlier.
How are the words tested?
Not as definitions in isolation. A short passage has a blank, or a common word used in a less common sense, and the question asks which word fits the meaning of the text. The lessons teach each word with synonyms, antonyms, and analogies, and the fill-in-the-blank and practice-test formats ask it the way the test does.
Where should a 10th grader start?
With the complete word list and the practice test, both of which need only a free account. The test’s on-page version scores itself, so it shows which words are already secure before any lesson is opened. Then work the lessons in order, twenty-five words at a time.
Do these help with the ACT too?
The ACT does not have a separate vocabulary section, but its Reading test asks what a word means in context, and the same words appear. A student preparing for both tests does not need two word lists.
Do I need to pay to download these?
The word list and the practice test need only a free account. The twenty lessons and the practice formats are part of Full Membership, which also covers the SAT Reading and Writing and Language series and every other worksheet on the site.
Get the whole collection
The word list and the practice test need only a free account. Full Membership unlocks all twenty lessons, every practice format, the SAT Reading and Writing and Language series, and every other worksheet on the site.