Vocabulary Worksheet · Grades 3–5
Idioms Worksheet
A printable vocabulary worksheet for grades 3-5 that builds the skill of recognizing the figurative meaning of idioms. Students translate 8 common idioms in Section A and read 6 sentences with idioms in context in Section B. A complete answer key is included.
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Subject
Vocabulary
Grades
Grades 3–5
Skill Focus
Idioms, word meaning
Lesson Length
15 minutes
Lesson Overview
About this worksheet
Idioms are everywhere in everyday speech, but their literal words almost never match their real meaning. When a teacher says ‘piece of cake’ she does not mean dessert – she means the task is easy. Helping students spot idioms and figure out what the speaker really means is one of the highest-impact vocabulary skills for both reading comprehension and natural conversation.
Section A gives students 8 well-known idioms in quotes – ‘Break a leg’, ‘Hit the books’, ‘Piece of cake’, ‘Under the weather’, ‘Cost an arm and a leg’, ‘Bite the bullet’, ‘Spill the beans’, and ‘Bend over backwards’ – each with three meaning choices in parentheses. Students write the real meaning on the answer line.
Section B raises the difficulty: students read 6 sentences that USE an idiom in context (couch potato, zipped her lips, on fire, money does not grow on trees, hit the nail on the head, judge a book by its cover) and write what the speaker really means. The reference box at the top of page 1 defines idiom and walks through one example (raining cats and dogs). Page 2 is a complete answer key in compact format.
How to Use This Lesson
Read the reference box aloud and ask students to picture the literal scene (‘raining cats and dogs’), then say what the speaker really means.
Work Section A independently or with a partner; encourage students to cross out the two wrong choices and explain why each is wrong.
For Section B, model item 9 (‘couch potato’) aloud and show how the rest-of-sentence clue tells you the speaker means ‘was lazy’, not ‘ate a vegetable’.
Use the answer key on page 2 for self-check or aide spot-check.
Optional extension: have students find one idiom in a book they are reading and write what the speaker really means in their own words.
For the teaching side of this worksheet, Teaching Idioms covers where students go wrong and how to introduce it.
Printable Resource
A classroom-ready PDF with everything in one printable resource.
Free Member Resource · Printable PDF · 2 pages · Answer Key
Idioms Worksheet
A printable vocabulary worksheet for grades 3-5 that builds the skill of recognizing the figurative meaning of idioms. Students translate 8 common idioms in Section A and read 6 sentences with idioms in context in Section B. A complete answer key is included.
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