3rd grade · English Language Arts · Unit 7 of 13
Word Pairs
Same, opposite and sound-alike
What your child practices
Synonyms (words that mean the same), antonyms (opposites) and homophones (words that sound alike but are spelled differently, like their, there and they're).
Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 3.1.8.2; 3.1.1.2 · synonyms, antonyms and homophones
How we explain it
Children can open this short lesson before they practice.
- Synonyms mean almost the same: big and large.
- Antonyms are opposites: hot and cold.
- Homophones sound the same but mean different things: road and rode. Check the meaning in the sentence.
Example: Which word means almost the same as “gift”: toy, present or party? A gift is something you give someone. A present is also something you give. Answer: present
Word Pairs in Minnesota
In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 7 of 13 in 3rd grade English Language Arts, after Prefixes & Suffixes and before Sentence Smarts.
Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Which word correctly completes the sentence?
There are seven days in a ___.
- weak
- week
week
Hint: Homophones sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. “week” is seven days.
Question 2
Which word is an antonym for “deep”?
- shallow
- low
- wide
shallow
Hint: Antonyms are words with opposite meanings, like deep and shallow.
Question 3
Which word is a synonym for “jump”?
- sit
- crawl
- leap
leap
Hint: Synonyms are words that mean almost the same thing. You could swap “jump” for “leap” in a sentence.
Question 4
Which word correctly completes the sentence?
Can you ___ the birds singing?
- here
- hear
hear
Hint: Homophones sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. “hear” means to listen with your ears.
Question 5
Which word is an antonym for “before”?
- earlier
- during
- after
after
Hint: Antonyms are words with opposite meanings, like before and after.
Question 6
Which word correctly completes the sentence?
I need a new ___ of mittens.
- pear
- pair
pair
Hint: Homophones sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. “pair” means two things that go together.