About this worksheet
Opposites are the first word relationship most children notice, because the two ends of an idea explain each other: big means more when little is standing next to it. This page shows one picture, says the word that describes it, and asks for the opposite among three or four other pictures. Every distractor is a real, sensible thing, and on the middle level one of them is deliberately merely different rather than opposite — an elephant is not the opposite of heavy, it is another heavy thing — because telling different from opposite is the whole point. The last level turns the pairs into a small analogy: hot goes with cold, so big goes with what? Children who have only memorized a few pairs stall there, and that is useful information. One item was removed rather than repaired: “If the light is not on, it is ___” keyed off while offering out, and the light is out is ordinary English, so that item had two right answers.
What your child will learn
- Match a word to the picture at the other end of the same idea
- Tell an opposite apart from a word that is merely different
- Use opposites for size, weight, sound, speed, feeling and direction
- Complete an opposite pair from a pattern you were given
Worked example
The picture is a stone and the word is heavy. An elephant, a bus and a tree are all heavy too, so none of them is the opposite. A feather is, so the finger goes there.
Common mistake
Choosing a picture that is different in some way instead of the one that is the other end of the same idea.
Helpful hint
Say both words together — hot, cold — so the pair sounds like one thing.
Worksheet 1